


War of Nature

by shinealightrose



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Animal Preservation, Cat/Human Hybrids, Lu Han observes a wild animal hybrid, M/M, Minseok isn't all that he seems, Romance, That's it that's his only job, Wildcat - Freeform, eventually
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-01
Updated: 2018-11-04
Packaged: 2019-03-25 15:49:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 21,426
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13838004
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shinealightrose/pseuds/shinealightrose
Summary: Lu Han's a researcher on a mission to observe the only hybrid wildcat in existence this side of the world. He wasn't quite meant to make friends with it. He definitely wasn't supposed to fall in love.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> _“Thus, from the war of nature, from famine and death, the most exalted object which we are capable of conceiving, namely, the production of the higher animals, directly follows.”_  
>  ― Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species

Lu Han yawns into the night and pulls his coat higher up around his neck. He should have brought a hat to keep his head warm. He’d been just a tiny bit too late to remember to grab it. He pulls up the night vision goggles to his eyes, scanning the terrain just downhill from his perch on a rocky outcrop. No sign of the wildcat yet, but if the creature’s habits prove resilient, Lu Han expects to see it before too long. The wildcat is nocturnal, solitary. Literally, solitary. In this part of the world it is the last of its species. Back at the Wild Hybrid Preservation Center in Beijing, Lu Han had spent a full year learning about the animal’s nature, habitat, diet, hunting routines, general lifestyle, not including an intense study of the immediate terrain wherein the creature lives, a wooded forest reserve that is fortunately smack in the middle of a protected national park. How the creature had gotten here was not the mystery; how it manages to survive, alone, all these years certainly is. 

The last of its kind, a hybrid wildcat who, since not long after its birth, has lived alone and out of contact from both wildcat and man. 

Lu Han’s prime directive is to ensure its survival, short of capturing the poor creature for life in captivity. If he can tame it, persuade it to leave its habitat, finding a mate from another small colony in southern Africa may be a possibility. But wildcats are not surprisingly suspicious by nature. The last one successfully brought in lived for three years in captivity and never once shifted into its human form. At the end of those three years, it was released back into the wild. That was thirty years ago, when there was a fledgling wildcat family still living on the reserve. He was almost definitely the parent of this offspring that Lu Han has been following for weeks. 

Two hours pass without sight of the cat. Lu Han dares not stand and move around. His muscles are locked into position, his back has been aching for days. He moves not a single nerve, too cautious even to breathe loudly into the quiet, nightly atmosphere. The only sounds are the ones of small nocturnal animals, the true animals of this forest. And still no sight of…

From down the ravine, comes the cat. Lu Han wouldn’t know it was there except he’s been staring at that spot for hours. 

“There you are…” he whispers under his breath. Lu Han refocuses his goggles, staring at the animal for any signs of changes, any abnormalities. “Xiumin, my sweet, sweet cat, you are looking good as always.” He sighs and puts down the goggles, trading them out in favor of his small sun-powered handbook which has been charging all day. “ _ Appearance _ , healthy,” he checks with the pen attachment. “ _ Weight _ , healthy, estimate fifty kilograms” 

The hybrid is an abnormally large version of its relative, the non-hybrid wildcat which are smaller and customarily weigh no more than nine or ten kilograms.The hybrid though is larger, more in keeping to its human aspect of which few true men have ever seen. Lu Han in particular, really wants to see it shift. To get a picture of that form would not only win him praise and fame, but also a giant boost to his ego and to sate his curiosity, that part of him which lead Lu Han into the animal preservation career in the first place. Of all the horizons in the animal field, beholding the human appearance of a hybrid wildcat would be the absolute pinnacle. 

Lu Han peeks back at the wildcat, ensuring it is still standing where it appeared. He snaps a few pictures to go along with his records, then picks up the handbook again. 

“ _ Eyes, teeth _ , too far to tell.  _ Intuition _ , cautious as always.”

The wildcat the Center named Xiumin, has yet to take another foot down the ravine. 

“Come on, come on,” Lu Han chants softly, “come down, why don’t you, and let’s have a closer look.”

The closest he’s ever been to the creature was a distance of some ten or so meters. Close enough for the animal to smell the human hiding in the brush, and to retreat hastily away. Now Lu Han positions himself much much farther from the wildcat’s normal stalking grounds, and its nightly water spot. 

Finally, the animal moves. Lu Han watches amazed, like he always does when the creature is in motion. Even at this slow pace, he’ll admit he’s pretty enamored. Like all of their breed, Xiumin’s coloring comes with sleek, mid-length sandy colored fur dotted with black speckles, and a striped tail. Longer than average legs, a long neck, thin face and tall ears, and it moves with all the grace of a feline, and then some. 

“Yeah, yeah, there you go, you beauty,” says Lu Han, taking a few more pictures of the wildcat in action as it slinks down the the ravine towards the water hole. Before its wake smaller animals scatter and dash, but the wildcat must have fed recently because it gives none of them a second glance. Finally at the edge of the stream, it pauses and bends its head. Then, just before it takes a drink, its eyes shoot up. 

Lu Han freezes. The wildcat is looking straight at him, though they are separated by a great distance. Its pale yellow eyes shine reflectively from the moonlight for just one second. Then, still watching Lu Han, it dips down and begins to drink. 

By the time the wildcat moves away, Lu Han can hardly breathe. He inhales a huge breathe before putting a hand to his heart which has been silently pounding this entire time. He doesn’t fear for his life. Hybrid wildcats aren’t known to attack humans ever. On the other hand, he’s never had it notice him this intensely for such an extended period of time. 

“Wow. Just, wow,” he talks to himself all the way back to his cabin on the edge of the reserve. His nerves are still tingling as he putters around the one room lodging, setting up his clothes for the morning which he’ll mostly sleep away. 

“Magnificent. Just, magnificent.” 

  
  
  
  
  
  


It’s been several years since Lu Han finished his masters degree in Hybrid Studies. Ever fascinated by the myriad of species whose natures duel between man and animal, he began as a boy by reading books, kids’ magazines, then videos, movies, internet and TV clips, anything really that focused on the great mystery of how these creatures existed. In school he slummed through just about every unrelated course, barely taking enough interest in biology and the affiliated sciences until he could apply for college and get onto the track for more specified hybrid ecology. 

Then there were endless years again where all he learned were the basics. In between his junior and senior year, he managed to snag an internship cataloguing hundreds of interviews from over three dozen wolf packs both at home and abroad. It was exhilarating. Protected by International law after centuries of persecution and pogrom, most hybrid wolf packs had either assimilated into the greater population where their identity remained secret, or else lived on national land reserves given back with bland apology for the increase of their species. 

He’d even had the occasion to meet and befriend a few of the city-dwellers during some of his post-grad activities. Jongdae for instance acted exactly the same as the human Lu Han. They met up for movie nights, snagged coffee or tea together in town whenever they had the time, stayed up late drinking beer talking about politics, philosophy, sports, and the latest hot person who happened to catch Jongdae’s interest; truth be told they spent more on the latter than any of those other topics, and that was totally fine. 

Lu Han hasn’t seen the wolf now in almost six months since he’s been on the wildcat project. He misses Jongdae, treasuring their friendship, valuing too the insights he’d gleaned from Jongdae sharing small tidbits about the hybrid lifestyle. Lu Han isn’t too puffed up to think just knowing Jongdae alone is going to aid his mission tracking Xiumin through the wilderness, but every little bit helps.

' _Even in the back of my mind, even when I couldn’t feel more human, when I’m putting on clothes, or making breakfast, even sometimes just while talking, I can feel it.’_

_ ‘Feel what?’ _

_ ‘My other nature. A calling, the love of the earth. I want to prowl forever on four legs. I want to smell everything I can’t as a human. I want to see the world differently than when I am a human.’ _

_ ‘That’s deep, man. Is there then another way to see the world, or is just an entirely different world?’  _

Jongdae had laughed.  _ ‘You’re asking me? I have no idea because when I walk as a human, which is about 95% of the time, I can’t exactly recall those other thoughts, just the remnant feelings of them. I remember everything that happens of course. But… then again. When I walk as a wolf, I long to stand upright. I long for coffee and cooked meat and spices and entertainment, and conversation, the kind you can’t get from just skinship and nuzzling. I love my pack, but there’s a reason our kind lives the way we do. We have chosen to live more humanly than our brother packs. But, it’s still hard. It’s always hard. We’re neither one nor the other and yet we’ve got to live as both.’  _

It’s been two days since Lu Han’s seen the wildcat. Ever since the watering hole incident, which Lu Han chronicled later in excruciating detail, he’s been thinking about Jongdae. Does Xiumin have the same urges, the same desires? It’s impossible to make an accurate assumption because for one, Xiumin is a feline. Even as an animal he won’t be anything like Jongdae’s wolf. On the other hand… if as the Wild Hybrid Preservation Center, the WHPC, believes, Xiumin was orphaned as a young kitten, and has spent almost his entire existence as a wildcat, then how much of his human nature will he even understand? Or miss? 

That’s one of Lu Han’s secondary missions. Again, something he doesn’t entirely have a lot of confidence over, but where confidence is lacking Lu Han still has hope. The wildcat project should culminate in his doctoral thesis. At the very least, he’ll leave with a PhD, and the world will know and understand more things about this most elusive of hybrid species when everything's said and done. 

And so, around dusk Lu Han packs up his gear into his backpack, double checking along the way that he has enough water, snacks, and warm clothes to last the night. For lunch usually — Lu Han’s ‘breakfast’ — he makes sure to feed himself a semi-nice meal on the campfire stove outside his cabin, but for dinner… and indeed overnight, he slacks and eats mainly protein bars and other handy, portable food groups. He munches on one now on his way to the ravine, careful not to drop the wrapper anywhere on the ground. 

It’s entirely too early for the wildcat when he approaches. He makes a little nest in the earth and camps out. Camera, night vision, the extra jacket ready to pull on for when the sun makes its final dip. An hour passes. Lu Han yawns silently. Something snaps in the distance, but as it’s too early for Xiumin to make an appearance, Lu Han doesn’t bother checking. He hums a few melodies softly in his head, mouthing the lyrics; eventually has to shrug his coat on over his sweatshirt. 

He reaches left for his backpack when it happens. 

In the brush not three meters away, two yellow eyes staring straight at him. 

Lu Han flinches, barely catching himself from screaming and bolting from the spot. Instead, his jaw drops and his heart rate ratchets. He makes a silent gasp. Theoretically he has a utility grade knife in his bag which might double as a defense weapon, but he’d never get to it in time… Also, he’d never be able to hurt the animal, even unto death probably. Lu Han has family and an entire species already overpopulating the planet. But this world just has Xiumin. 

Still, he takes a breath of relief when he realizes the wildcat isn’t about to pounce. In fact it’s lying beneath a low brush tree with its legs stretched out, tail fanning slowly up and down, head staring unmoving at Lu Han but otherwise… it’s as non-threatening a posture as there could be. 

“What the hell?” says Lu Han quietly. 

The wildcat yawns, then they resume their staring match. 

Lu Han’s nose twitches. The animal’s whiskers mimic the same. Something akin to a belch from Lu Han’s earlier protein bar bubbles up from his throat. He swears the wildcat smirks. 

“Uhm. Are you just going to sit there all night?” he asks it. 

Not surprisingly, there’s no response. If their situation were reversed Lu Han would almost be inclined to say that the animal is in fact casually observing  _ him! _

“Okay, okay, we can do this.” Lu Han nods his head just to affirm his goals. “I see how it is. Sizing me up. Giving me a taste of my own medicine. Can we… try a little game perhaps? Hello, my name is Lu Han. I’ve been calling you Xiumin. Is that a good name? Do you like it? Xiumin? Hello? Kitty kitty?”

The wildcat looks casually away and yawns again. 

“Right,” says Lu Han. “Not sure what that means but you clearly don’t care.”

As if on cue, the cat huffs loudly and stares back at Lu Han. Tail twitching, there’s a long moment where the two resume their staring contest. Five seconds, ten seconds, almost twenty… The wildcat huffs again and notices its tail. Another few seconds later, just as Lu Han is expecting it to attack its own appendage, the cat goes for his paw instead, giving it a thorough lick-down.

Ever so slowly, Lu Han reaches behind himself for the camera. If he’s quiet enough, if he’s lucky… Getting a picture like this so close without the effect of zoom would be amazing, especially when it’s staring right at him.

Fingers around the strap, he drags it towards him, eyes never leaving the wildcat in case he spooks him. The camera snags on a zipper of Lu Han’s jacket. Xiumin freezes. Lu Han catches his breath and tries to play it cool. 

“Nothing wrong here, nothing going on,” he chants. 

By the time he’s got the device in both hands, fingers deftly hitting the buttons to verify the correct settings, Lu Han is sure this is going to be good. 

“One second, that’s all I need,” he says, bringing it to his eyes, aiming, preparing, about to  _ click _ _ — _

In a heartbeat, and well before he can get the shot he needs, the wildcat is upon him. 

“Oh shit!” Lu Han goes flying backwards into the dirt, camera lost somewhere near his side. Faster than he could have anticipated, Xiumin pounces on his backpack, tail brushing Lu Han in the face, one paw accidentally trampling on his hip. With eyes half closed and his heart rate once again skyrocketing, Lu Han wonders if this is it. This is the moment where he dies, or is at least irrevocably mauled by a wildcat all because he stupidly wanted a picture. His fists close, body curled up protectively. Fur brushes by his side and … 

He opens his eyes. The wildcat has pawed open Lu Han’s bag and… is sniffing at the food packs there. Lu Han could reach out and touch the animal, they’re so close. He doesn’t dare do it though. Instead, he watches incredulously as Xiumin noses some of his protein bars, pawing at others. And in a stretch of time which feels like hours and is probably only about twenty seconds, the wildcat suddenly declares its disinterest. Its mewling scowl echoes softly down the hill as, miraculously, it turns away, giving Lu Han one last practically scathing look. Another couple seconds later it’s disappeared into the brush.

Lu Han sits himself off and dusts the dirt from his side, back, and legs. Huffing softly he says, “Did it just… reject my favorite foods?” 

  
  
  
  
  
  


The following day, when Lu Han finally wakes up and meanders outside to a high noon sun, back creaking as he stretches and takes in the hour, he almost stumbles on something outside his cabin.

It’s a dead hare, freshly caught probably a few hours ago, just lying there upon a rather flat stone like a present. 

“Oh my god.” 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


“I’m telling you!” Lu Han shouts into his mobile phone, “I’m telling you, that rabbit was from the wildcat, I swear! Hello? Hello? Baekhyun, are you still there?”

Getting service this far out is almost impossible most days, but right now it seems to be possible.

Baekhyun’s voice comes back, a little scratchy but still present. “It’s got to be a coincidence, Lu Han. Wildcats aren’t exactly known for being accommodating. Probably that hare just met… an unfortunate accident and while… hopping home it died in front of your cabin.”

Lu Han snorts. Even to his ear, Baekhyun doesn’t sound convinced by his own story.

“Right,” Lu Han deadpans. “It just happened to meet an animal with the teeth marks of a fifty kilogram wildcat and die in front of my doorstep.”

Baekhyun snickers. The signal crackles and Lu Han misses what he says. 

“What?”

“What?”

“I said…” Baekhyun finally crackles back in. “Did you  _ eat it?!” _

Lu Han scowls appallingly. “What? No way! Who knows how long it’d been there. That’s nasty!”

“So… you totally rejected its present. Rude, Lu Han. I’m serious.”

Lu Han sighs and scratches his nose. Technically speaking, Baekhyun is his superior at the WHPC. Though just five years older, it’s to Baekhyun Lu Han is supposed to report. Practically speaking, whenever they speak it’s friend to friend. Baekhyun’s professionalism is almost nil in most aspects. To Lu Han he’s a pain in the ass, though a very friendly one. 

“Look, I took it inside. And, later on I’ll bury it.” Because what else is Lu Han supposed to do anyways? It’s hard enough telling this story out loud when privately, Lu Han  _ wants _ to believe it’s a coincidence. He really does. The alternative is believing Xiumin, a thoroughly  _ wild _ unpeopled hybrid wildcat, took some severe pity on Lu Han over his protein bars and actually caught and left his breakfast for Lu Han to share in. 

How embarrassing. 

It takes a moment to pull him out of his reveries and remember Baekhyun is still speaking to him. Earlier laughter aside, it sounds like this time he means business.

“Okay, let me get this straight. For months now you’ve been stalking Xiumin, only getting glimpses of him from a distance. He sees you one night, makes eye contact, runs away. The next night he creeps up on you, gives you the eye-down, inspects your food, then leaves you a meal. Lu Han, my man. You’re the man.”

“Uh huh,” Lu Han mumbles unhelpfully.

“I mean, that’s the ticket! Do you know how rare it is for a wildcat to even acknowledge human presence!? You made contact!”

“Technically  _ it _ did,” Lu Han reminds him. 

“Exactly! Look. This is great. This is awesome. Phenomenal, superb, pick your adjective. And as long as it doesn’t prove to be a fluke, Lu Han, you are now in a relationship with the only living wildcat in the entire Asian steppe!”

“You make it sound like we’re dating now,” says Lu Han unimpressed.

Baekhyun snorts. “For how rare an event this is, you might as well be. Now, give yourself a pat on the back, go eat something healthy for lunch, then go out and  _ get that cat! _ ” 


	2. Chapter 2

By  _ getting that cat _ , Lu Han of course has not a single idea what he is supposed to do. For the rest of the evening before dusk, he reads and rereads his log book, manuals on hybrid interaction techniques, reports of encounters with both Xiumin’s parent wildcat, and also some about the African colony which by most accounts is thriving in small groups of threes and fours scattered about various plateaus across multiple national borders. None of it seems entirely helpful. The population of wildcats worldwide is listed as under fifty. Even in their heyday a hundred years ago, human researchers knew little about them and understood them even less. 

It’s frustrating, that mankind has known and domesticated whole breeds of felines small and large going back as far as the ancient civilizations and yet they still don’t understand the hybrid kind. Mankind has known of (and at least slew) dozens of other hybrid species since then as well. Most are thought completely extinct now. Whole evolutionary lines of half-human half-animal creatures whose bodies displayed the distinct characteristics of both were the first to go. The centaurs, the fauns. The last harpy reported alive died as late as six hundred years ago. Mermen and mermaids disappeared from recorded history shortly after that. Whether they perished completely or went into hiding, nobody knows. The last known sphinx in existence died in captivity during the European Renaissance after a calamitous attempt to mate it with an actual lion.

Those species who could entirely transform into one or the other held out for much longer. The wolves, the felines, some species of ravens. In the tropics Lu Han has read reports about frogmen; fairies are still said to reside in heavily wooded, mountainous regions. There’s credible proof of a species of octopi who live in and out of the water, sometimes on eight tentacles, sometimes on two legs. Lu Han has actually met an elf, though years of survival-based cross-breeding with humans have softened that entire race and smeared some of their once distinctive features. 

Lu Han has comrades in the field of hybrid studies who specialize in some of these other creatures, some who live like Lu Han, in and among the animals’ habitats. Others can only explore via ancient, crumbling records. 

“Should’ve gone to Africa when I had the chance.” Lu Han berates himself off and on for the rest of the day, thinking of that opportunity he might have taken a year ago to do some reconnaissance work on the wildcat colonies there. There’d only been one, teeny, tiny little problem. It would have put him on the same expedition with his ex. 

“Ugghhhhh!” 

Lu Han fluffs his hair angrily, furious for no good reason. By nightfall he approaches the situation with a new and firmer resolve: let the wildcat come to him. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


It takes a week for Xiumin to reappear at the water spot. Lu Han, gone angsty from no contact, returns habitually at the same place and same time each night. The main difference is he no longer tries to remain quiet. Instead, with unusual plomp and tread he sits in a visible location, munching on snacks and praying he doesn’t attract any less friendly creatures than the hybrid wildcat. It’s relatively safe, as Xiumin is the largest known predator in this part of the reserve. Still Lu Han keeps alert just in case. 

He’s more than ready for another meeting with the wildcat. 

Two small snaps of a couple pieces of twigs, and a rock goes skittering down the slope into the ravine. Lu Han smiles.

“There you are, beautiful, beautiful creature.” 

Across the stream comes Xiumin, sleek and tawny, a fascinating beast. The wildcat doesn’t hesitate when it approaches the watering hole, doesn’t bother with stealth, doesn’t even bother to hide its curiosity at seeing Lu Han across the way taking picture after picture. 

“You seem thirsty, little one,” says Lu Han to the cat who at this distance likely can’t hear. It also probably has no idea what Lu Han is saying. “Excellent, excellent. Wow, these shots are going to be beautiful. Now come up here, pretty please? Kitty kitty?” 

The wildcat is still watching him, eyes never turning away as it laps at the water. And if circumstances go as Lu Han expects, it will move on shortly and disappear into the night. 

So he’s more than taken aback when, Xiumin suddenly hops across the stream, crossing every which way on a few rocks, a fallen log, dipping his toes once in the cool water before re-emerging on Lu Han’s side of the ravine. 

“Shit. Now what.” Lu Han keeps his camera ready as the wildcat climbs gracefully up the hill. “Perfect photo-op, Lu Han, don’t mess this up. Oh my god, this is happening. This is happening.”

Xiumin pauses barely a meter away, eyes on the alert, whiskers twitching as its lean body holds still and aloft. At this distance Lu Han can see perfectly the tufts of white hair next to its ears, the spots and patterns on his fur, the slow breathing movements of his chest cavity and the… playful glint of its eyes? 

Without warning the cat plops down on its side, licks its belly, and then deigns to stare off in another direction.

Lu Han takes the shot.  _ Click. Click, click!  _

He whispers, “Fuck!” as his adrenaline alights.  _ Click. Click, click.  _

The cat rolls over and stares at him while Lu Han takes a dozen more pictures. 

“Absolutely amazing. Fuuuck, you’re beautiful. I just want to roll around with you, how are you even so beautiful.”

At some point Lu Han will remember that he’s talking to an animal whose biology is perfectly capable of turning it into a man. Right now though Lu Han is in love and not afraid to confess it. He’s always been a cat person; since he was born he was a cat person, and likely till the day he dies. He has two chubby tabbies at home who probably hate Lu Han for disappearing on them like he did, but if there’s anything remotely better in life than sex, it’s getting to cuddle with a fluffy, lovable cat.

It comes as no surprise from the animal’s nature, however, when Xiumin suddenly and without warning stands up. This time Lu Han doesn’t fall away, but lets the wildcat inspect his backpack once again, sniffing at Lu Han’s apparently inedible food stocks. Xiumin sniffs it, appears once again displeased, then turns and marches away.

“Hey, wait!” Lu Han whines when its tail disappears through the brush. “Leaving so soon? And here I thought we were having such a good time.”

At the very least, Baekhyun is going to have a small party when he gets ahold of these pictures. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Again, there’s no sight of the wildcat for almost a week. Other than a few scratchy long distance phone calls with an elated Baekhyun, Lu Han hasn’t had contact with anyone, man or animal. This isn’t too distressing though. Lu Han is something of a homebody (at least when he’s at home), and has never been attracted to a glittering social life. He’s rather carefree and independent, otherwise he’d never be okay working a job like this which requires him to live away from civilization for long amounts of time.

In fact, that’s one of the complaints given to him by his ex. For nights after the breakup Lu Han practically lived in Jongdae’s apartment whining and groaning and being all around — according to Jongdae — insufferable. 

_ “So, what, because I’m not as clingy as some people would have liked, now I’m  _ too independent?  _ What am I then, destined to just live alone forever with my two cats? You know what, screw relationships. I don’t need anybody anyways.” _

Jongdae had laughed at him. And eventually he settled down from having laughed at him, and he began explaining the birds and the bees of companionship, which in Jongdae’s worldview was infinitely broader in scope than Lu Han’s. 

_ “Look at this way, Lu Han. I’m a wolf. Or part wolf. Pack mentality and all that, right? Yes. You understand. We spend way more time being touchy with people than the fully human does, not because we  _ need  _ it but because we  _ want  _ it. Get it?” _

_ “What are you saying?” _

_ “I’m saying not being clingy is not the same as being too independent. You want a relationship not because you need it, but because you want it.” _

_ “So…” _

_ “So, stop beating yourself up about it. Just because you have a greater need for space and alone time and that’s what makes you happy, doesn’t mean you need to be single all your life.” _

_ “...good to know.” _

_ “But don’t date a wolf, man, just saying.” _

_ “Noted.” _

  
  
  
  
  


After the sixth evening with not a hint of Xiumin, Lu Han returns to his cabin, yawning just as the sun peeks out through the early morning clouds. He’s ready to change his clothes, grab another snack to tide him over, and sleep for half the day. 

Only there’s something blocking his doorway. 

“Well, this is new,” says Lu Han to the wildcat partly snoozing in the shadows of the overhanging roof. Beside it is another dead hare. “And you brought me breakfast. That’s, that’s really sweet.” Xiumin purrs a little and rotates just a mite. Lu Han clears his throat because this situation is really out of the bounds of his control. Should he just, casually pull out his camera and take a picture or… attempt to approach the wildcat. Maybe pet it? Ask if it wants to come in, watch some movies, take a nap, etc.?

“So, what’s the deal?” he asks, already reaching for his backpack in case the perfect photo opportunity arises. 

Xiumin stands before he can even get into position. 

“Aren’t you nocturnal? Did you chill out here all night when I was out looking for you?” 

Honestly it’s kind of exasperating. If the wildcat was going to make Lu Han work so hard just to return home and find it lounging on his doorstep, well then what the hell should he make of this? He’s tempted to demand an answer, but before he knows it, the wildcat is gone. 

Miraculously though, when he picks up the hare it’s to find it injured but still alive. For some reason, instead of butchering the small thing, Lu Han spends half an hour yawning and trying not to fall over himself while he treats its broken leg, binding it, and putting the poor terrified animal in a little cage in the corner of his cabin with a stash of food. 

So what, he’s a softy. He names the thing Sehun and promptly plops into his bed, vowing not to move again until dusk. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Xiumin visits him almost every night after that. Mostly without food, for which Lu Han is grateful. He’s not sure if he could handle taking in so many animals, injured, dead, or otherwise, although Sehun has been coming along nicely, happy in his little cage and a healing leg. 

Lu Han hasn’t been going anywhere at night, obviously.

“Fourth time in five days.” He checks a mark on his electronic notepad, stretching his back where he sits against the side of the cabin. “I’m starting to think you’ve become fond of me.”

The wildcat purrs and doesn’t move.  

“That’s right. Flirt a little harder, please. I can take it.” 

His leg itches. The bugs have been kind of brutal lately, but Lu Han doesn’t usually complain, much. Instead he finds himself talking to Xiumin a lot. There’s a familiarity there that goes along with having no audience but yourself and a feline which Lu Han is well used to from years of living alone. He tells Xiumin about his two cats, how much he misses them. How he suspects they probably don’t give a shit right this minute but how probably they’ll make him pay when he does go home. 

“Not that I want to leave you, Xiumin. You’re excellent company, especially on nights like tonight when.... Well, shit. It’s… starting to… rain.”

Ignoring the wildcat, Lu Han bolts upright just as the first hard droplets begin to fall. Within seconds the bottom hem of his pant legs are soaked. He curses again, worried about his camera and the devices he’s been haphazardly using throughout each of their nightly ‘sessions’. He fumbles at the door and gets it open just in time for an even stronger deluge. The weather’s like this in this part of the world. Unpredictable, sudden, vengeful. 

Lu Han falls through the door with an accompanying gust of wind. “Phew!” he huffs in relief, turning quickly to get it shut. 

From the cage in the corner, Sehun suddenly shrieks, and a shadow streaks in, brushing right past Lu Han’s hip. 

“What the!” shouts Lu Han. He drops his notepad, no longer concerned with its safety because, “Xiumin!?”

The wildcat hulks in the center of the cabin floor, its coat glossy from the rain, and a pitiful mewl emerges from its jowls. 

“Xiumin… Xiumin, don’t do it nooo…” Lu Han bleats frantically. But the wildcat pays him no mind before suddenly shaking out its coat. Lu Han slams the door and cringes, the floor around the wildcat — including part of his desk — now dripping in excess rain drops. “Never mind. You are 100% cat.” 

The wildcat turns and glares. Yes, Lu Han is absolutely certain that look was a  _ glare. _ He gulps.

Sehun is now squeaking frantically nonstop in his cage. Xiumin turns, stalks towards it. Lu Han makes a half step towards them to intervene before he realizes something terrifying. He’s in his cabin, with a closed door, with what’s essentially a predator. And if the wildcat wants, there is nothing to stop it from eating one tiny, little hare. 

“Xiumin…” He whines, practically begging.

But the animal barely sniffs the hare before turning back to Lu Han and… huffing one, great time. And Lu Han knows that look. It’s disbelief and condescension all rolled into one great sigh of ‘ _ humans. Huh.’  _ But at least the hare appears to be safe. 

Of course now there’s another problem. Lu Han, is in a room, with the wildcat. 

And there’s no protocol for how to deal with this situation. Hell, he didn’t realize the animal would bolt inside with him. But judging from the downpour outside he can’t really fault him. Xiumin is sitting now in the middle of the floor, licking his paws and paying Lu Han no mind. Lu Han doesn’t even move, afraid to startle the cat. 

After a full minute of this, however, he has to laugh. They’ve been ‘acquainted’ now for weeks, and Xiumin hasn’t ever appeared unfriendly. So what if the wildcat wants to barge into Lu Han’s sleeping space, this is  _ Lu Han’s cabin!  _

“Alright, Xiumin,” he says warily anyways, “don’t get freaked out but uhm, I am just going to go on about my business and…”

He retrieves his notepad, puts it alongside his camera on the driest part of his desk. Taking pictures right now feels almost a little too invasive. The next part of his routine is usually getting something to snack on. Lu Han skips this because his pants are still wet, and his pajamas are right there thrown across the bottom of his bed. 

Sometimes, when Lu Han was little, he used to imagine that his pets at home would stare at him while undressing at night. Too many stories about hybrids and animals that are really humans in disguise. But the cats he grew up and his parents’ little dogs seemed always so inquisitive, to the point where Lu Han would rush to get his clothes off and his new ones put on, laughing when it was all over because, _ they’re just animals, after all.  _

Not so with Xiumin, even if there’s been no outwardly indication that he’s part-human. That doesn’t change the fact that _Lu Han_ _knows_ , and that knowledge makes a difference. 

“Don’t look, kay?” he laughs, turning his back to remove his shirt. The cold air on his skin instantly chills him. Without waiting to see if the wildcat is paying attention, he exchanges the shirt for his warmest sweater. Only then does he peek. Xiumin has switched paws, but sure enough… he is watching. 

Silently, Lu Han curses. He grimaces but goes for the pants anyways, almost tripping in his haste. His socks are disgusting as he stomps on one to pull his foot out without touching. The hair on his legs prickles. “Brrrrrr,” he says out loud, overly mocking himself to get over his nerves. Within seconds, he’s pulled on his pajama bottoms and the relief is immediate. 

“Done!”

Because of course Xiumin is still watching, one eye dragging lazily in Lu Han’s direction. According to the clock, it’s somewhere just past five in the morning, and the rain doesn’t seem to be stopping any time soon. 

Lu Han sighs and chews on his lip. “If I go to sleep, can I trust you not to eat Sehun?” 

He doesn’t delude himself thinking he’s going to get a verbal answer. And in fact, Xiumin makes no other sign of response except to continue licking his paws, and finally the damp fur on the side of his body. 

“Don’t eat Sehun, please,” Lu Han whimpers one last time before crawling into his bed. “Or me.” 

The mattress is cold, too thin, and on the lumpy side. But there’s a Lu Han-sized dip in the middle which he’s perfected in the few months he’s slept here. He pulls up an extra blanket, tucks it around his chin, and glances at the wildcat halfway dozing on the floor. “Goodnight, Xiumin.” 

Perhaps it’s his imagination, but he swears he hears a soft growl of response. 

  
  
  
  


Somewhere in the late afternoon, Lu Han wakes up. He’s chilled to the bone, all his blankets are still in place. Yawning, he sits up and pulls one of the covers up over his shoulders, perusing the room for the source of the cold. It’s still raining outside. The soft patters against the rooftop are comforting, no longer the deluge of the previous night. Four o’clock, reads the display of his alarm clock on the opposite window sill next to the door. 

Which is open by about five centimeters. 

“What on earth…” says Lu Han, getting up and bounding towards it to close the door.

There’s no wildcat in the cabin, that much is obvious. But last night he swore he’d closed the door. Moreover, he locked it, a complicated system which requires fingers to maneuver. Which requires human fingers to open…

“Xiumin, what the fuck…” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, that was chapter 2 :) 
> 
> If anyone wants to chat about the fic, I'm on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/ShineALightRose) and [CC](https://curiouscat.me/ShineALightRose) !


	3. Chapter 3

Baekhyun is ecstatic of course when Lu Han calls him later that evening.

“You know what this means, right?”

Lu Han knocks his head against the open door frame and groans. “I don’t know. Do I?” he replies facetiously. “Please, enlighten me. What does this mean?”

It’s bordering on dusk. Lu Han is waiting for Xiumin to come again. In the meantime, there’s a patch in the clouds through which part of a weak sunset shines. Elsewhere the world is damp and the drizzle nonstop. Lu Han really hopes Xiumin comes again so he’ll be justified in staying home.

Baekhyun sighs. “It means he likes you. It means you’re buddies now. It means he trusts you enough to come into your house.” He suddenly shouts, “it means he’s perfectly capable of shifting into a fully human body, and you were sound asleep! I can’t believe you missed that!”

Lu Han cringes. He knows, okay, he really knows. He missed the once in a life opportunity to see a… presumably naked human male get up and walk out a door before potentially sinking back onto all fours and… bounding away like a cat. Hoorah.

“I think he’ll come again,” Lu Han tells him. His conviction is strong, and not unwarranted.

“I agree. Next time though, see if you can’t strike up a conversation. It would answer so many questions! Does he speak any dialect of Mandarin? Does he understand speech? Does he _speak, period?_ Not to mention the golden question: _is he conscious of human emotions?!”_

“I know, I know,” says Lu Han duly. “Look, slow and steady, right? That’s what you told me.”

Baekhyun sighs impatiently, but Lu Han understands. This _thing_ he’s got going on with Xiumin right now is the biggest breakthrough they’ve ever had with the Asiatic hybrid wildcat. It’s important, tremendously so.

The phone line is silent for a moment. With the exception of static crackles, there’s only the sound of their breaths. Lu Han imagines Baekhyun wheeling deep tread marks in the carpet behind his desk. This project is his life, the reason he was hired, the reason the WHPC hired a foreigner for their Beijing office. In another universe, in another life, if just another set of events had occurred instead of the ones that did, it would have been Baekhyun out here in the field and not Lu Han in his place.

“You’ll do a good job, Lu Han, I know it,” says Baekhyun with alarming sincerity. “Make me proud.”

Lu Han smiles. He can’t help it. One corner of his lip just comes up of his own accord and there’s a warm fuzzy feeling budding up inside his heart cavity-

“But if you fuck it up, I’ll have no choice but to send Junmyeon out there to bail you out.”

Gone is Lu Han’s smile. Gone that nice, warming sensation, replaced in an instant with the burden of dread.

“What do you mean... ? You wouldn’t…?”

Baekhyun sounds tired over the line. “Just don’t fuck it up, and _everything_ will be great!” He laughs once, and the phone goes dead.

  
  
  
  
  
  


The problem with Junmyeon is that Lu Han liked him a lot. A lot, a lot. Too much, a lot, that kind of a lot. They met in college because of a similar interest in hybrid studies, and so they shared many of the same classes. Junmyeon was cute and always laughing. His jokes weren’t the best but his smiles definitely were, and Lu Han just _liked_ him. They started dating in their sophomore year and for a while everything was great. Not perfect, but pretty great. They went out every weekend, were at each other’s apartments every couple of days. They met up daily for meals or just to hang out, sometimes with friends, sometimes alone. And Junmyeon really liked Lu Han’s cats, even better. What Junmyeon didn’t like was Lu Han’s penchant for stressing about the future, specifically his professional future and the amount of time Lu Han poured into his studies and his grades, applying for scholarships and internships because nothing seemed to come to him naturally as it did for Junmyeon.

“ _It’s not my fault I get good grades without trying, Lu Han,”_ he explicitly remembers Junmyeon saying, and without holding back on the snark. “ _You don’t need to get all jealous. Maybe if you stopped running in circles all day long you’d get more done. Live a little, man. I mean, can’t you?”_

 _“Uhm, no I can’t, Junmyeon,”_ Lu Han bit back. “ _I’m sorry I’m not perfect like you. I just need like, a whole weekend to get this project done. Just give me a weekend. One weekend.”_

_“One weekend? You sure you don’t need two? How about a month? Is two months fine, and then you can pay attention to me again or should we just call it quits?”_

Deep down Lu Han knows Junmyeon didn’t mean to sound so disparaging and, well, mean. Deep down Lu Han knows he had been slowly pushing the other man away because he really wanted to make this work, his school time, his career. He applied for the same internship because he hoped it would help them work out their differences if they had the same goals. But even that backfired. In the end, Junmyeon went to Africa to observe the wildcats there, and Lu Han jumped fields temporarily by cataloguing wolf packs. They never worked out their differences and by the time Junmyeon came home, their relationship which had been put on hold was officially dead in the water.

“And that’s how I came to be here, Xiumin, a lone male, with no hands on experience with wildcats. Kind of sad really, although I don’t regret choosing to stay home. I mean it might definitely have helped but…” Lu Han sighs. Xiumin thumps his tail, the wildcat’s eyes half closed in the moonlight where he lays before the threshold of Lu Han’s open cabin door.

“I just really don’t want to have to see Junmyeon again. Not like this. Maybe after I’ve gotten my PhD, and or gotten engaged to some really hot person who’s at least ten times better than him.”

He laughs, and if it sounds hollow to his ears, at least the wildcat doesn’t say anything, if he even understands. Since the night where Xiumin slept indoors and apparently left after _opening_ the door, Lu Han doesn’t think there’s been another instance where the cat has bothered to transform. Half a week has passed, and most nights Xiumin shows up at dusk to hang out, and most of the time he doesn’t enter, but lays nearby.

He’s almost in petting range right now. If Lu Han leaned a small ways over he could do it. Biting his lips, Lu Han actually wonders.

“Hey, Xiumin.”

The cat twists his head and looks at him. Lu Han refuses to flinch.

“Do you like pets?”

Then he huffs, because really, what kind of question is that. Xiumin also seems to huff, turning away again and leveling his whiskered face atop his outstretched paws. Lu Han holds his breath, thinking not for the first time that the wildcat’s seeming level of understanding is just a bit high…

“I’m gonna do it, okay?”

Breathtakingly slow, Lu Han inches over on the grass, not even looking at the wildcat. He stops short again, just to be sure, and waits for a reaction. Xiumin hasn’t budged, nor does he seems to be concerned by the human moving closer into his vicinity. So Lu Han does it again. This time, when he stops he thinks he’ll be able to reach the wildcat’s back if he puts out his hand.

Lu Han stretches his fingers, knuckles trembling, and his eyes staring hard at the wildcat’s body in case he moves. With the pads of his fingers hovering right over the animal’s back, Xiumin’s fur prickles, but nothing else happens. He holds his breath, then gently lowers his hand, waiting for something exciting to happen…

Nothing does.

“Okay, well this is nice,” breathes Lu Han softly, petting the wildcat in short, soft touches. It’s only inwardly that he preens ‘ _victory!’_

Not one minute later, when Lu Han asks him what he ought to do about Junmyeon, does the wildcat turn to give him a quick staredown, after which he proceeds to hack out a hairball.

“Uhm, yeah, that’s a good answer, actually. Thanks, Xiumin.”

  
  
  
  


One week later there’s another light storm. Lu Han swears and stares out at the hidden, dying sunlight from the safety of his doorway. The rain isn’t coming down too hard yet, but these definitely aren’t the conditions he’d want to go out in, and he’s not seen Xiumin in at least three evenings. It’s long enough to have him worrying, wanting to find the wildcat, to see if he’s alright, ask if the cat’s been impartially fed up with Lu Han’s ‘petting’ skills. At least a couple times after the first attempt at touching the animal, Lu Han got close to scratching under his chin; once ven between the ears. It’s as far as he’s dared go.

Unfortunately, his teeming questions about the wildcat’s whereabouts will have to wait. He closes the door—unlocked, just in case—and undresses down to his sweat pants, pilfering through his typical lame dinnertime meal until he deems the storm isn’t going to let up. He turns off the lamps finally when the clock hits 10 PM, drags himself into bed, and falls asleep to the splattering of the rain drops overhead…

  
  


The first thing Lu Han thinks is that he knows it’s too early to be awake right now… Something registers as off. The lack of sunlight, the continuing sounds of rain and wind, the fact that Lu Han is practically _sweating_ and that’s never happened before as it’s way too cold outside and in to have him overheating in his own bed.

He moves, or tries to.

Suddenly, Lu Han freezes.

_Breathing._

There’s something inside his cabin, breathing, and it’s not Lu Han.

With his heart rate skyrocketing and panic setting in, Lu Han blinks, frantically praying for his eyes to adjust to the darkness, and quickly. There’s a weight laying across his legs, and something else against his waist. The fact that there’s somebody actually asleep— _in his bed!_ _—_ sets off every alarm whistle in his entire body. If he was thinking clearly he might even have figured it out before the thing, also now alert to Lu Han’s growing panic, moves too.

A head lifts off the pillow next to Lu Han’s. A pair of glowing greenish yellow eyes blinks before him, and Lu Han yelps. He gives a wild shove and with a loud thunk, the stranger hits the floor and rolls. Half of Lu Han’s blankets tumble off with him, but Lu Han is already scampering down the bed in the opposite direction, screaming, as he grabs for the flashlight and something to defend himself.

“Stay back!” he shouts, brandishing the flashlight which, he decides is also heavy enough to be a weapon if he needs to use it. His trembling fingers manage to hit the on switch just in time for the pile on the floor to sit up. “Don’t move!”

There’s a boy on the floor. No, not a boy, a young man… Yellowish eyes, and sandy colored hair… A couple freckles across his cheeks.

The man freezes, as demanded, but his eyes are blown wide open, and his nose flares in curiosity, not necessarily in animosity. Lu Han recognizes the extra blanket he keeps at the foot of his bed as the one currently wrapped around the man’s thin and probably naked frame. From this angle all he can see are his shoulders and collarbones.

Without warning, the stranger smiles, lips pressed flat and showing no teeth but his head tilts and the whole thing is reminiscent of—

“Wait a second…” says Lu Han. Without turning his back, he shuffles for the lamp in the corner of the room, fumbling with it until light floods the small space between them. The man on the floor doesn’t move, just watches him curiously.

“You… you…” Lu Han tries again, bewildered at the possibility, but there’s almost no doubt in his mind this man is the wildcat. “Xiumin?”

The stranger’s smile widens. His eyebrows arch.

“You’re Xiumin, aren’t you?” Lu Han asks again. His throat feels like he swallowed a rock. He’s also freezing cold now outside of his bed. He’s wearing sweatpants, but no shirt.

Lu Han steps forward, then stops. Gulping, he does it again; again he stops. Eyes glancing towards the door, there are the signs that someone entered in the night, water stains settling into the wood, and Lu Han puts the pieces together, remembers this isn’t the first time the wildcat has taken shelter inside… just the first time he got caught in… human form.

Lu Han gasps. His knees turn weak, and taking that as a sign that he needs to actually _do_ something now about this situation, he puts down the flashlight and slowly, crouches down.

“Xiumin, right?” he says, slowly approaching the man on the floor.

The hybrid man continues smiling. Until he opens his mouth, and in a soft, gruff voice like it hasn’t been used in a while he says, “Hi.”

Lu Han’s heart drops through his chest, or the nearest equivalent of that.

“Hi,” he responds quickly.

 _What. Is. Happening,_ he wonders thunderously.

“You can speak.”

The wildcat beams at him. A second later, however, as Lu Han continues gaping, the smile drops off the man’s face. Xiumin shivers. The blanket still hangs off his shoulders. And still Lu Han doesn’t know what to do.

“Xiumin?” he says again. “Do you… need clothes?” He mimics the pants he’s swearing, then points at Xiumin.

The wildcat nods.

“Holy shit,” whispers Lu Han. The man _does_ understand speech. “Okay, give me a sec. Just, hang on. Hang on, I got this. I got this.” It’s possible the words are more for himself than for the strange man slumped down on the middle of his cabin floor, but Lu Han gets up and fumbles towards his dresser. Only half of his things ever made it out of the suitcase, but he finds pants and a sweater, turns back to the wildcat and kneels down to offer them.

A bare arm reaches out from the blankets, and Xiumin smiles.

“Holy shit,” Lu Han whispers again, because _damn_ , if that isn’t that the sweetest look he’s ever seen on a man.

He turns away while the wildcat stands and dresses, only looking back when he hears Xiumin tugging the blanket back up around his shoulders.

“Thank you,” says the wildcat in that soft, thin voice which sends goosebumps down Lu Han’s skin.

“You’re welcome.”

Now what, he thinks. He’s standing up, still practically freezing cold. The wildcat is shuffling towards the bed, still vaguely shivering. It’s so early in the morning.

Xiumin cocks his head again, smile gone and traded for a questioning look. “Bed?”

“What?!” Lu Han cries out.

“Sleep? Back to bed?”

It takes Lu Han an incredibly long time for his brain to pilfer through the suggestion that Xiumin actually wants to go back to sleep, in Lu Han’s bed, together.

“Uhh, that’s fine. Yeah, that’s fine.”

With some awkward maneuvering, Lu Han crawls back to his bed, heart beating at a steady but elevated pace when the wildcat knees his way in too. The bed isn’t enormous, but neither are they cramped. Which makes it even stranger when Xiumin leans right into his space, their heads sharing a pillow.

It’s warm though, and comfortable. They’re practically spooning, except with an additional blanket in between. Even then Xiumin is still shivering.

He’s probably really cold in his skin.

“Is this okay?” he asks softly, putting his arm around the blanket burrito that used to be a medium-sized predator.

“Yes.”

“Okay, okay…”

How extraordinary, he wonders, that sleep seems to pull at him right away. Before he can sleep at least, he allows himself one question, for science.

“Xiumin, do you actually understand everything I say?”

There’s no immediate answer. Lu Han thinks maybe he fell asleep, or he doesn’t understand, or he just doesn’t want to answer. Over a minute later though, Xiumin whispers one last thing. “Yes.”

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the shorter than usual chapter. The split between this and the next scene is too good. :D 
> 
> If anyone wants to chat about the fic, and or just say Hi, I'm on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/ShineALightRose) and [CC](https://curiouscat.me/ShineALightRose) !


	4. Chapter 4

A day and a half later, Lu Han is hard-pressed explaining to Baekhyun everything that happened.

“I’m telling you, Baekhyun, he’s a fully functional person with complete understanding of just about everything, and a full range of emotions. Everything!”

This statement—his tenth yet—is met once again by a staticky scoff.

“So, you observed him prepare a meal to make pasta? You had a conversation about Plato? You worked on calculus homework together? Discussed the birds and the bees?”

“Well…” Lu Han falters. “No, I mean…”

“Lu Han.” Baekhyun sounds tired, probably doesn’t mean to be condescending. “From what you told me, he came in for shelter, put on clothes, spoke a whopping ten one-syllable words, and was gone again come morning. Please explain to me how that proves Xiumin is a fully functioning adult male when _everything we know about him says he has never been in the company of another human being, let alone a community big enough to teach him anything complex!?”_

There’s an ache along his temple that tells Lu Han he’s got the beginnings of a headache coming along. “He... folded the clothes I lent him and left them on a chair.”

Both he and Baekhyun sigh across the phone line, before Lu Han barrages through. “Ten words though! Isn’t that a lot?”

“He probably learned them from _you!_ ” Baekhyun cries.

And yes, Lu Han has considered that option. He has after all spent an inordinate amount of time in the wildcat’s company venting off on a million different tangents with all the eloquence of a Shakespeare monologue. Or rather, at least a dime novel. On the other hand, none of that satisfies Lu Han’s suspicions that Xiumin’s intelligence is a least something higher than what everyone, according to Baekhyun, suspects.

Since the following morning when Lu Han woke up alone, again, he’s been pouring over the records, the ‘everything we know about him’ to which Baekhyun referred. It’s borderline useless. Lu Han has already memorized everything before he came out here. Baekhyun’s memorized everything at least a dozen times over that.

“Got to be missing something…” he muses, frustrated beyond belief, not only because he can’t explain Xiumin’s actions, but also because the wildcat has been MIA since that night, which isn’t unusual for him, it’s just… Lu Han thought maybe they’d progressed beyond this. Sharing a night, even if all they did is sleep. Did that mean nothing? And Lu Han had so many questions too.

By the third night, Lu Han is restless. Dusk comes along, followed by a bright waxing moon. Lu Han packs his gear and heads off into the brush. He finds his normal perch above the ravine, settling in as usual, everything like usual. Well, not quite. He doesn’t bother bringing his camera. At this point he just wants a visual of the wildcat in whatever form he can take.

One hour later it happens. Xiumin appears on the far side of the ravine. Tiny rocks slide towards the water’s edge as he scampers down, and Lu Han sits up in wait. The wildcat takes only a quick drink from the ravine before hopping sprightly across it and up to Lu Han, like he knew he’d be there.

It’s not exactly what Lu Han expects to happen. Then again, everything that’s happened in the last few weeks is already beyond what anyone expected. Sighing, he exhales one long breath to steel himself for whatever the wildcat is gonna throw at him this time.

“Well, hi,” he says when Xiumin is but a couple meters away, slowing in his magnificent tread but not shying away. Lu Han sits up straight, knees digging into the earth, one hand on his notebook the other… well he offers it out for the wildcat to sniff. Xiumin walks straight into it and leans into the touch, whiskers tickling Lu Han’s open palm as the animal practically throws his weight against him.

Lu Han falls down to his butt, shocked but not injured. In fact he’s a little more upset that the wildcat seems to greet him him but then keeps on going. Right over to his food bag again too, the nerve of him.

“Xiumin?” he asks the cat.

Xiumin huffs once again at Lu Han’s meager portions. Then, unexpectedly, he turns, cocking his head.

“Woah, what!?” cries Lu Han, when the wildcat’s body begins to torque.

Xiumin hisses as if he’s in pain, arching his great back, paws digging into the ground. His head thrashes about, body wracked in shivers, and all of a sudden there are the sounds of bones creaking and joints popping. His fur recedes like in all of those werewolf movies Lu Han used to watch with Jongdae and laugh at. He can’t even describe the terror it instills in him, until… panting… the wildcat turns into a man.

He’s crouched down on all fours, a posture derivative of his animal pose, but of course it looks strange now that he’s human. Xiumin gives one last shake of his head. Sandy colored hair reminiscent of his fur sticks out in all ends, wild and untamed. And then he stands. Joints still popping and fully naked, it’s almost intimidating how at peace he seems with his surroundings. Whereas Lu Han is wide-eyed and open-mouthed and he doesn’t know what to say or where to look.

Several nights ago, Lu Han hadn’t quite realized it. At full stature, Xiumin barely stands as tall as Lu Han’s chin. He’s slim and muscular, but he’s built like a human, only a small fraction of a size down.

Right, Lu Han has to remind himself. He’s a hybrid wildcat. Large for a cat, small for a man. At first glance and maybe with clothes on, he would fit right into society, no questions asked. On a second look, though…

There are goosebumps prickling along Xiumin’s arms, and he shivers.

Lu Han coughs. “Hang on,” he says, voice rough as he peels off his outer coat and hands it to the wildcat. Xiumin takes it gratefully, slips his arms through and zips it up with ease. Lu Han adds that to his mental catalogue of all the reasons he and Baekhyun and WHPC must be missing something about Xiumin’s physical upbringing.

He waits to speak though until Xiumin is pulling on the hood to cover his ears, wherein he squats down on the earth to tuck his legs. Lu Han sits down again too, a good several arms’ width apart. He can’t shake the piercing gaze of Xiumin’s cat-like eyes--about the only thing that didn’t change in the transformation--staring right at him, unmoving, and playfully curious.

“Hi,” says Lu Han, for lack of something better.

Xiumin smiles. He still hasn’t looked away.

Lu Han swallows heavily, stares at the ground, waits a moment, then looks back at the wildcat- no, at the man.

“I have so many questions.” It comes out as a whisper, a plea.

Xiumin nods, affording him the suggestion to go on.

“Right. Okay. First of all… wow, did that… hurt? Changing like that?” Not technically what he should be asking given the situation but he can’t easily forget the crackling and popping as Xiumin’s entire physiology literally changed before his very eyes.

“Yes. A little.” He shrugs.

Lu Han opens his mouth to comment, then shuts it again. Xiumin is _finally_ looking at something else, although it seems his gaze is drawn more to his surroundings out of curiosity than because anything actually took his attention. Lu Han waits for him to look back.

“Uhm, Xiumin?”

Then the wildcat says it. “Not Xiumin.”

“What?”

“My name, is not Xiumin.”

Lu Han stares, chin falling open. “Oh,” is all he says. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know… what exactly _is_ your name then?”

 _Why do you even have a name?_ Is what he really wants to know.

Again, ‘Xiumin’ just shrugs. “I like your name.”

“Which name? My name, or the name I call you?”

“Both.”

“Okay…” Lu Han smiles, nodding like this isn’t a somewhat frustrating conversation. “That’s fine. I’ll just call you that then for now since… How do you speak so well? Have you been around people before? And you know a lot of random customs.”

Baekhyun would be so proud, maybe.

Once again, however, the wildcat smiles that vague, mysterious smile, answering, “Yes,” without giving any further, juicier details. “Can I keep the jacket?”

Lu Han immediately nods. “Sure! Of course! Keep it!”

Another gummy, playful smile. “Thanks.”

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


It’s dusk when Lu Han gets back to his cabin, alone too, for Xiumin had not indicated any desire to come back with him tonight. Lu Han’s head is throbbing a little, and he’s beyond exhausted, but his brain is racing and he’s never been so hardwired to pull out and update every file he’s got. Xiumin is just so fascinating! He knew that already of course, but even an evening’s halting interview with the wildcat has revived every research-loving cell in his body.

He talks to himself as he types his notes.

“Right, let’s see how impressed Baekhyun is with me this time.” 

  * __Formal language acquired, some vernacular. Perhaps local?__


  * _Confirmed knowledge of clothing, such as zippers, hoods. A little surprised by the pockets._


  * _Does not eat in the human form! Raw meat only, as a cat._


  * _Unnervingly direct gaze when conversing_


  * _Lack of observance of personal boundaries? Somewhat unconfirmed._


  * _He HAS ANOTHER GIVEN NAME!?_  



It’s possible Lu Han, and by extension Baekhyun and the WHPC, will never learn everything they’d like to about the wildcat who has a name but isn’t inclined to share it. Lu Han blushes a little, remembering Xiumin’s soft admission.

_“I like your name.”_

_“Which name? My name, or the name I call you?”_

_“Both.”_

Unbidden, Lu Han’s mind wanders to every awkward, embarrassing monologue he ever directed to the hybrid cat, a cat who isn’t a cat and who is in fact an adult male with a fairly encompassing grasp of language.

“Fuck me,” he whispers to the silent room, mortified and growing moreso. He basically told Xiumin he was gay. Was that before or after the hybrid crawled into his bed? His mind frantically scrambles and unscrambles itself. “After, that was definitely after,” he reminds himself, relieved but still embarrassed as hell. “Wait, why am I even thinking about this?!”

Lu Han shoves his notepad away and stands up angrily. He paces the room from window to window. “It’s not like it even matters, Lu Han, what the fuck.” He scratches behind his ear, pauses next to Sehun’s cage and on a whim, opens the cage and lets the little animal out. The rabbit’s leg is practically healed, though Lu Han is reluctant to let it loose outside until he’s certain Sehun won’t quickly become someone’s prey, again. Or maybe he’ll just adopt him and take him home when this entire venture is over.

Another thought comes to mind: Xiumin being introduced to Lu Han’s home city, his neighborhood, his apartment… his two cats.

“Woah. Stop.” Lu Han shakes his head. “I should probably sleep. Yeah, sleep it is.”

Baekhyun’s phone call can wait until he’s had a chance to rest his brain and sort out these new feelings.

Feelings like maybe he’s just a little too interested in a hybrid man whose name is and isn’t Xiumin.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Evening falls on the ravine. The shadows lengthen and grow. A night owl hoots its greeting as a small fox scurries out of its den, scampering towards the stream of water. Rocks slip down the steeper edge of a small cliff, a tree sways in the wind. Somewhere a baby bird chirps out its fright until silenced by its parent. A twig snaps. On and on, the sounds of the day die down and the night comes truly alive.

The wildcat stretches its paws, eyes shut tight and groans a silent greeting to the world at large. His tail twitches. Somewhere above, another bird screeches into the night. A pair of yellow eyes turn suddenly open, awake.

Ignoring the rumbles of his belly, the wildcat stretches and writhes on his tree limb. He jumps down, four paws landing gracefully on the dry dusty earth. Tiny animals flee before him, but the wildcat ignores them all. It’s thirst, not hunger, which drives him down to the ravine.

And curiosity drives him up the other side when he’s done.

It’s been so long since a human came to these parts. Five years at least since the rogue hiker. Six since the poachers who were quickly apprehended by rangers. Before that the wildcat cannot remember. It’s been even longer that he actually let himself interact. Someone from the preservation agency usually comes around every other year, a different person each time, stays for a week, gets one shot of the wildcat and then goes home. That’s been fine. That’s suited the wildcat just fine.

And then came Lu Han.

The wildcat doesn’t need to know why he’s here. He knows that already. He knows who he is, where he’s from, what kind of food he eats, what kind of pets he has at home, what he likes in a boyfriend, what he doesn’t like. He knows that Lu Han is probably bored out of his mind. Also that Lu Han is utterly fascinated by him.

The wildcat preens a bit as he approaches the little cabin. There’s a smell of cooked food issuing from the fireplace, also the scent of fresh rabbit, uncooked. Through his nostrils, the wildcat scoffs at the human’s base sentimentality. Why eat muck out of a can when the wildcat presented him an _entire meal_.

He stops outside the door, wondering whether he should wait a bit and let the human come to him. Another option is to paw at the door and beg that way to come inside. A third option is to open it himself, like a man.

He’s not particularly keen to change. It hurts, and he doesn’t like his skin. It’s cold and useless, bare and superbly fragile. Physically, an inferior form, and when he does this Lu Han stares at him, and then suddenly refuses to look. There’s both an advantage to play there, and also a disadvantage. The wildcat isn’t entirely sure which one he wants to play tonight. One one hand, he likes listening to the human talk. It’s comforting, altogether soothing. He likes having his ears scratched, and Lu Han likes giving him attention. There’s an easy domesticity which suits the wildcat when he remains just like that, a wildcat. He can listen and not talk, not strain himself so much.

On the other hand, having a person to talk to is also a nice idea. The wildcat barely remembers how. No, it’s not the language which is hard. He’s grown up with that, lived with that, though of course not for so many years. He’ll never forget the language. Rather, remembering which muscles to use, how to quench his throat, move his lips. And once he gets past that there’s the option of _dialogue_. How much to say to sate the human’s curiosity but not too much that Lu Han will decide he’s gathered all there is to know and suddenly take off and leave.

The wildcat is curiously reluctant to let Lu Han leave.

No doubt it’ll happen one day. He’ll wake up and cross the ravine and pad his way to the empty cabin. Lu Han will have moved on just like all the other researchers. He must be special, this Lu Han, to stay for so much longer. It’s why the wildcat approached him in the first place.

Curiosity really is a thing.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, there’s a subconscious thought. An idiom. His parent wildcat, or was it someone else? What did he used to say? The wildcat struggles to remember. It was something about a curiosity. And a cat. He’s missing some words, he knows. No matter now.

He paws on the door, and utters that achingly embarrassing _meow_ that so flusters Lu Han.

He hears the bunny screeching inside, and if he were in his other form right now, the wildcat would smile. Instead, he feigns a disinterested look when the cabin door is opened from the inside and Lu Han, flushed face and excited, cries, “Xiumin? I mean, oh. You’re here. Okay, okay this is cool. I can do this. Come inside. I mean, that’s what you want, right? To come inside?”

The wildcat brushes past him, knocking into his knees and almost pushing him over. He ignores the feeble bunny, sticks his nose into the pot of goop Lu Han’s cooking over the small electric burner. He scowls. Of course it’s something inedible, though it could be worse.

“Hey, Xiumin?”

The wildcat looks at him. Lu Han freezes, and then gulps. Continues with what he’s saying. “Are you… going to stay that way, for now?”

For answer the wildcat hops onto the bed and stretches out, careful not to rip the sheets with his claws. He thinks, no he remembers, that humans don’t like that.

“Alright,” quips Lu Han, as if steeling himself for a grand ordeal. “Cat it is then. Should I uhm, just talk for a bit? What would you like to hear tonight? Childhood story? School life? That time I got drunk and found myself outside in an alleyway, and oh yeah, okay maybe not that story. Oh! I know!” He claps his hands together, and the wildcat stares at him quite startled. “Have you ever met a wolf? I haven’t told you about Jongdae, yet, have I? He’s like you. Well, sort of. He’s human, and also a wolf. He shifts back and forth. He’s my best friend in the city. A great pal. Sage of wisdom. And everything in between.”

The wildcat’s ears perk up. A wolf who is also a man? He’s heard stories. Never met one in the flesh. But it sounds _fascinating_. Jongdae, huh? First a Junmyeon, now a Jongdae. Sometimes a Baekhyun. That’s so many humans now he’s got to compete with, and they’ve all got nice, fascinating names.

Should he tell Lu Han his name? Not that one he’s semi enjoyed being called. Not Xiumin. His other one.

If he does that though, will Lu Han ask him where he got it? Or, won’t he care at all?

The wildcat kind of hopes he will.

 


	5. Chapter 5

Lu Han frowns, ear plastered to his staticky phone, Baekhyun’s voice saying things that do and also don’t make sense. 

“We’re missing something. You and I, and everyone,” says Baekhyun. 

Lu Han actually snorts. “You don’t think,” he says. 

“I’m sending someone to investigate.”

“What, here?” 

“No,” says Baekhyun, and Lu Han’s heart is momentarily relieved. The last thing he wants is for someone to show up and turn this thing he’s got with Xiumin into something more complicated. 

“We have some very vague notes in the files. Rumors, and stuff. The kind our center typically receives on a daily basis, most of them calls from civilians with ‘reports’ and sightings of hybrid activity. To be honest a lot of them are prank calls, and some are just people with vivid imaginations, ready to believe anything about their neighbors if it makes them seem like their observations are important. But of course we don’t delete anything, just in case they happen to hold even a kernel of truth.”

“Uh huh,” says Lu Han. “And?”

“Well, round about a decade ago we have something that came in from one of the nearest villages to the park. You know, the usual ‘I think my son’s best friend is werewolf’ kind of thing. Only she couldn’t verify it. Didn’t get a good look at the supposed werewolf.”

“So… you think Xiumin might be a werewolf in disguise?” Lu Han smiles.

There’s a long pause on the other end of the phone, then Baekhyun scoffs. “You’re hilarious, Lu Han.  _ No _ , I don’t think he’s a werewolf, but when people  _ see  _ things, or  _ think _ they see things, werewolves are what most commonly come to mind, not wildcats. No one sends us a fluke ‘I saw a werecat!’ report, because they’re that rare.”

“So what are you saying?”

“I’m saying that I’m sending someone to investigate. Find the woman, maybe track down her son again, see if we can verify whether it’s just a rumor based on some old lady’s fear or if there’s something truthful about it.” There’s another pause, and this time Lu Han knows Baekhyun is about to ask him something hard. “You know…” he starts in finally. 

“What.” Lu Han cringes, waiting for the shoe to drop. He can practically feel Baekhyun smiling over the phone, like he does when he gets one of those brilliant ideas. 

“Well, I was just thinking… might be quicker if you, you know…” 

Lu Han sighs. “Baekhyun, just tell me if you want me to ask Xiumin outright, ‘Hey I heard you may have lived among humans before. Is this true?’” 

Baekhyun just chuckles. “Read my mind, my man. I’ll let you know if we dig up anything on our end, and you can do the same. This time tomorrow suit you?”

He sighs again. “Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Talk to you later.”

“Thanks, Lu Han. Sometime soon we’ll talk about your lack of deference to your most beloved superior, yeah?” 

“Looking forward to it. Bye.”

  
  
  


Of course he doesn’t ask Xiumin. Lu Han isn’t that stupid, and there’s no way he’s going to frighten the creature into clamming up and saying even less than he’s already let on. The following week then is more of the same. Xiumin comes around, morning or evening, the wildcat decides, and he’s still not terribly interesting in transforming. Friday marks the first time in over a week that Lu Han has even seen  _ the man _ version. Friday morning, that is. After a long no-show the night before in which Lu Han stayed awake just hoping, and long after he’d given up hope and plopped into bed, Xiumin knocks. 

Actually knocks. 

Lu Han is out of bed and pulling on his overcoat in a heartbeat. 

“Xiumin?” He whispers, eyes wide as takes in the sight. 

Xiumin stands there on two bare feet, one of Lu Han’s stolen jackets thrown around his shoulders. His sandy colored hair is caked with dirt and debris and just the barest trickle of blood. Small scrapes and gashes mar a good portion of one side of his body. Xiumin doesn’t seem panicked, but that doesn’t mean Lu Han isn’t. 

“What happened?” Lu Han rushes the man into the cabin, frantic and worried and fighting hard to keep his cool. “Did something attack you?”

Xiumin shakes his head. “No. I’m fine. I think. I fell.”

“You fell?” Lu Han gapes. 

“Off a tree.”

“You fell, off a tree.”

Xiumin smiles. Lu Han can’t fathom that a cat like him could actually fall out of a tree. “How did you fall out of a tree?” he asks slowly, sitting Xiumin down on his bed while he grabs another blanket to wrap him with. Xiumin’s skin is clammy to touch, cold and damp like the outside weather. 

“I was dreaming. I was a cat. And then I wasn’t.”

Lu Han stares at him. “Riiiight. And?”

“And when I woke up, I had… changed in my sleep. And then I fell.” Even Xiumin looks shocked by this revelation. 

“Stay put, I’m going to get something to clean you up.” Lu Han has a first aid kit he’s barely touched, small bandages and a bottle of hydrogen peroxide. “Does this happen often?” he asks while he works. 

“No. First time.” 

Lu Han hums, because what else is he supposed to do. He approaches the wildcat, an apology on his tongue when he asks to pull back the jacket and the blanket. He treats the first small cuts and all the while Xiumin’s eyes don’t stray from his face. Lu Han swallows thickly, refusing to look back. He focuses on each scrape individually, starting with the ones on Xiumin’s shoulder and arm, a few on his upper back. It’s the right of his body which took most of the fall damage, but Lu Han hasn’t ever been quite so intimate with Xiumin before, which is why he stops when he gets to the man’s waist. 

“Uhm, here, would you like to… do the rest?” 

He can see the beginnings of an open cut on the side of his hip, too near the groin for Lu Han to touch. 

“Do you always dream when you’re in that form? What were you dreaming of anyway?” he asks. A distraction from the way Xiumin has artlessly thrown off the covering blanket to attend to his wounds. 

“Hmm? Oh, you.” 

Lu Han chokes. Believe it or not, but this is the first time someone’s fallen out of a tree because of him. Is there even a response to this? He sets about finding the man some clothes since he assumes Xiumin won’t be transforming back so soon. 

“Do you mind if I stay with you the rest of the night?” Xiumin’s voice is soft but clear. Lu Han glances at him. He looks small but oh so solid, sitting half-naked on Lu Han’s bed. And he’s wearing a crooked smile, as if he were smirking. 

The wildcat is a tease. Lu Han deduced that weeks ago, and he adapted. But in this form, it’s an entirely different thing. 

For the first time, he wishes Baekhyun would call him right now. Anything as long as the call contained some insight into the workings of this creature’s brain. Because what are the odds, Xiumin really  _ is _ that ‘werewolf’ in the crazed woman’s report? The friend of her son. Does that mean Xiumin has a history with humans? Interacting with them, befriending them. By chance, did he also sleep in this person’s bed? 

Jealousy is an ugly emotion. And on Lu Han’s face, it’s even uglier, a little grotesque, he’s been told, even somewhat comical. 

So he schools his expression right now and says calmly, “Sure.” With a natural smile like the request doesn’t bother him in the least. 

Gone are the days when Lu Han could coo at the wildcat and call him “my beauty” from afar. It’s a grown man sleeping in his bed tonight. A little bruised and achy, wearing an old set of pajamas and wrapped in a furry blanket. And it’s not the first time. 

Lu Han goes warily to sleep tonight contemplating the hazards of this becoming a recurring thing. 

  
  
  
  


It’s dusk when Lu Han wakes up again —h e’s still on the wildcat’s semi-nocturnal schedule —a little surprised that he managed to sleep well, even at all. But his bed is empty and he’s cold, and the door to his cabin is wide open. Lu Han rubs his eyes, assuming like usual that Xiumin has snuck out again. 

Bummer, he thinks softly. Another missed opportunity to ask all those important questions. Not that he needs to report back to Baekhyun so soon. 

But then there’s a shadow in the doorway. Xiumin stepping back into the frame. He’s still in his human form, smiling down at Lu Han who pauses mid-yawn because, “Wow, you’re beautiful.”

Xiumin tilts his head and Lu Han’s two hands practically knock himself out in their haste to cover his mouth. Still in the same pajamas with the extra blanket wrapped high around his neck, it’s absolutely true what Lu Han said. He’s just not used to uttering those words to… him. Him, and not the cat. 

“Am I?” says Xiumin sweetly. 

Lu Han turns away, clenching his eyes in pain. Pain, this is called pain. Also pure unbounded mortification. 

“I’m sorry,” is all he says. 

Xiumin has no response to that, or if he does it comes in the form of the word, “Shoes.”

“Shoes? What?” Lu Han is rudely awake now but still uncomprehending. 

“I want to borrow some shoes.” Xiumin speaks slowly, methodically, as if explaining to a child. 

Lu Han can only nod. “I have some. Why?”

“Because,” says the wildcat, almost impatiently. “Want to show you something. Together. Let’s go.”

  
  
  
  


It’s worse this way. Navigation on two feet. He doesn’t miss wearing shoes. They’re horrible monstrosities but these feet of his are so delicate, soft, missing the calluses of his paws. And he’s so very cold in this body. Lu Han’s borrowed clothes are nice, but even they chafe against his skin, under the arms and along his neck, in other sensitive areas. And that doesn’t begin to cover just how weak are his muscles. He should never have gone so long without changing. Not only has the pain of the transformation gotten worse, but nothing feels right. Every twitch, every movement. Sometimes he shocks himself merely from the effort of breathing. Then there’s the issue of that fall he took earlier in the day and the residual scrapes and cuts, most of which are starting to itch. 

He smiles to cover it up. It’s a trick he learned long ago. Humans smile when they don’t have anything to say. And it means a variety of things. 

For instance Lu Han. Lu Han makes him smile. He’s nice to be around, pleasant to listen to, pretty to look at. He does everything the wildcat tells him to do. 

But the wildcat has gotten bored. That cabin is so small, and the path to the ravine is short. 

He’s heard him sometimes, when Lu Han wasn’t aware, talking on that  _ phone _ thing to the person called Baekhyun. They want to know more about him, Xiumin. It’s no secret, though Lu Han perhaps still thinks it is. He doesn’t realize that Xiumin is swift, and silent, and gifted with sensitive ears which pick up his conversations right through the cabin walls. By the sounds of it, Lu Han is so close to discovering all there is to know about Xiumin. About the other boy he used to be. 

And when he does, he’ll leave. Nothing else to be gained. Xiumin’s story is nothing exciting. Just another slightly longer journal entry in the researcher’s books. In a few years another person will come around, check that he’s still alive, document the rise and fall of the sun for a few more weeks and then be gone again. 

Why now then shouldn’t the wildcat make the most out of his time? 

He takes Lu Han’s hand in his, smiling again when the man startles, a soft little gasp escaping his lips. The wildcat doesn’t look at him, but tugs him along, down the familiar old path to the ravine. In this form, it’s so much more awkward. Both of them are stumbling, the wildcat because he can’t make his legs work properly, Lu Han because he’s being pulled along. 

“Where are we going?” asks Lu Han. 

“This way.” The wildcat points, smiles again. He sees Lu Han rolling his eyes. 

He knows exactly where he’s going. It’s one of my favorite vistas in the entire park. A hilltop with a magnificent view of the surrounding landscape. 

They drag each other up the other side of the ravine. The wildcat’s beginning to sweat. He  _ hates _ sweating more than anything. His breath is coming out rough and his muscles are dying. Lu Han is doing better. He looks more bewildered than anything else. That and every time the wildcat looks at him, his cheeks muscles twitch, face in shadow hiding what would otherwise be a blush. 

“How much farther?” he asks, when they’ve walked another few minutes. 

“I don’t know.”

Lu Han huffs. “You’re a man of few words tonight.”

“Aren’t I?” he teases back. 

Lu Han’s palm is sweaty in his. If it were anyone else he’d let it go. But this is Lu Han, and tonight, tonight he wants to  _ play _ . 

They reach the crest of the hilltop right at full moon. The clouds are scarce, there’s a mean wind. The wildcat tugs his jacket even tighter around his neck, burying his hands in the front jacket pockets. He forgets for a second that Lu Han’s fingers are still entwined in his, but doesn’t let that bother him. Lu Han for his part seems to be pretending that hand doesn’t exist. 

“Wow,” he says though, as the forest comes into view. They’re above the treeline here, higher than the surrounding hills, though not by much. This isn’t an old forest. The terrain is rocky; nine out of ten trees aren’t worth the climb. But it’s the wildcat’s home, protected national park or not, and he’s proud of it. 

“Pretty, yes?”

“Wow, yes. Yeah, it is,” Lu Han agrees quickly. 

“Pretty like you.”

The hand inside the wildcat’s jacket pocket suddenly trembles, and then it’s pulling away. He lets it go.

“What?” says Lu Han. His eyes are actually sparkling in the moonlight. The wildcat can’t look away. 

“I said, this view is pretty.” He smiles. 

Lu Han chokes. “That’s not what you said at all.”

“Isn’t it?”

“Ahh, no.” 

For one terrible moment, the wildcat thinks he’s offended him. His smile drops and he steps away, remembering that old emotion he thought was dead and buried. Humans are so easily made uncomfortable. Just like the one who’d been his friend all those years ago. 

Only Lu Han isn’t moving away. And he hasn’t  _ looked _ away. He’s scratching his cheek like he doesn’t know what to say, mouth slightly ajar. He blinks once, twice, eyes sweeping the wildcat’s face. For the first time in years, it’s the wildcat’s turn to blush. 

“Are you flirting with me?” Lu Han finally asks, head tilted sideways and the beginnings of a grin. 

“Maybe?”

“It’s kind of a simple question.”

“Then, yes.”

He wasn’t kidding when he said he’d been dreaming about Lu Han. He’s done that for several nights in a row. What he didn’t mention were the actual dreams themselves, and how Lu Han featured for a subject. In most of them, it was because he was going away… 

There’s a reason the wildcat lives the way he does. He’s got a staid personality by nature, a little lazy, not terribly adventurous, methodical. Routine suits him fine, but so does variance. There’s not much that throws him off course enough to be shaken by it. It’s a trait he’s perfected since he was a kitten. Since his parents went away. He knows Lu Han and his employers think them dead, but there’s oh so much that they don’t know. Little secrets the wildcat carries around with him, things nobody needs to know. His parent wildcats just couldn’t adjust to the encroaching human presence. He doesn’t have the same issues. 

As a teenager he’d gotten the first spark of curiosity, what would it be like to be human? He changed his body, stood upright, stole some clothes off a drying rack one night and the next morning walked into a village, ready to learn, to experience. 

Kind of like tonight. 

He corners Lu Han before the man can do a thing. Hands on his elbows, pulling him down. Lu Han gapes at him, his mouth open in shock. “What?”

“You said I was flirting. That’s not, bad, right?”

Lu Han’s slow to shake his head, but he doesn’t deny him outright. Rather, he licks his lips and the wildcat follows the movement eagerly. 

“Then, can I kiss you?” 

The silence between them is sudden, somehow thunderous. Lu Han is frozen stiff but not straining, though his heart is pounding. The wildcat is actually calm. It’s just the two of them, alone on a hilltop under the moonlight with not a soul around, and the wildcat  _ thinks _ that may be the humans’ definition of romantic. Is it? Is that the mood he’s going for here tonight? Maybe, perhaps, but only if Lu Han say yes.

The wildcat rephrases it. “I  _ want _ to kiss you.” 

And finally, that stuns the human out of his stupor. Lu Han inhales, the sound sharp and his face a little crazed. Then he nods “Yes, yeah, yeah, that’s… I want that too.”

So the wildcat does. He pulls Lu Han towards him, dragging him down until their lips are close, and then they’re touching, and oh yes, he remembers now how this works. Lu Han kisses hesitantly, like he’s scared he’ll break. The wildcat would laugh thinking of all those times the human appeared to be afraid of him. Him, a cat. He knows it’s not unfounded. He’s a predator who kills small creatures every day and eats them. 

But Lu Han is no small creature. He’s tall and warm, with a sturdy embrace, but he’s so stiff right now and the wildcat just wants to make him fall. 

Still locked together, he winds his small hands around the human’s back, drawing him closer, pulling them together until their bodies touch. He sucks in a breath, pulls away for one short second to stare at Lu Han’s enamored face. 

“Lu Han?”

“Hmm.” The human grunts more than replies. 

“Can I do that again?” 

“Uhhhh. Yeah, yeah you can.”


	6. Chapter 6

A woman’s voice echoes through the small house, nudging Minseok from his sleep. 

“Oi!! Zhang Yixing! Are you awake!?” 

The boy in bed beside him rustles, but doesn’t wake up. Minseok buries his head further under their shared pillar, tugging the soft wool blanket higher past his chin. 

“Yixing! Yixing?” 

Footsteps pound down the hallway as Minseok’s heart speeds up. He prods the boy, whispering his name, more frantically as the seconds tick on. The most he gets are a few odd groans and Yixing rolling halfway onto his side. One arm flails and whacks Minseok in the face, and if Minseok were any less animal, any more human, it might have hurt. He settles for smacking him back, but it’s a moot issue when the door flies open and Yixing’s mom stands on the precipice. 

“Zhang Yixing, what did I say about sleeping in? Your morning chores aren’t going to do themselves-” 

She stops right at the moment Minseok freezes, and their eyes meet in the near dark. Yixing chooses this moment to finally wake up. 

“Mooom?” he yawns, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and completely unconcerned about whatever this looks like. 

“Yixing…?”

Two seconds ago she was mad; now Yixing’s mother’s voice is laced with something different. Shock, confusion, the panicked poison of a woman whose brain is on overdrive, and the sad thing is she doesn’t even realize how crazy this truly is. 

Yixing yawns again, and Minseok observes through the corner of his eye Yixing’s hand straying towards his own face, to the source of minor pain Minseok inflicted on him just moments ago. He might even bruise. Minseok isn’t entirely in control of his strength, especially when he’s panicked, scared, and perpetually sleep deprived from the strain of adjusting his sleep patterns to observe the rituals of these human townspeople. 

He holds his breath when Yixing finally remembers their situation. That they’re sharing a bed, and that they’ve been caught. Minseok is waiting for the reaction, sure that Yixing will panic just as he did. 

Minseok is completely unprepared for Yixing to laugh. 

“Oh, sorry mom, I forgot to tell you Minseok and I stayed up late studying for a test.” 

There’s silence in the room as his mother tries to process. “Minseok?” she asks. “I’ve never met a Minseok?” 

And Minseok closes his eyes, because of course she’s never met him before. He’s only lived here for possibly two months, and in a town with less than a thousand people, that’s not only strange, it’s practically unheard of. 

“Transfer student,” says Yixing easily. Then he smiles that disarming smile that could make even the devil melt. 

Apparently it doesn’t work on his mom. 

“Get up. I didn’t make enough breakfast for two. You can cook for your friend yourself if he’s hungry. I have other things to do.” 

Her eyes are like stone, cold and knowing, even if it’s impossible for her to know just  _ what _ she’s looking at. She stares Minseok down and despite her words she doesn’t leave the doorway. Her fingers clutch at the frame like talons, like a predator protecting her baby, and that’s probably the most in common she has with Minseok’s species. It would be comical if Minseok was not, for once in his life, scared to death. 

“He’s not your boyfriend is he?” she says after a beat, with just enough venom in her breath to make the threat stand. 

Yixing laughs again. And that’s exactly where Minseok’s heart breaks for the very first time. 

“No, mom. Of course not!” He continues to giggle as he makes his way out of bed, the kind of laugh that can only stand in for the genuine, honest to God truth. Yixing’s mother’s eyes finally soften. “He’s just a school friend. I told you. Sorry we overslept. I’ll take care of everything else today. You can go to work. Love you, mom.” 

  
  
  


Barely two months later is when their friendship finally snaps. Ironically, it begins in the same way. Another restless high school study session, two exhausted friends, one oblivious and the other too carefree that it borders on recklessness. They pass out amidst their school books, and fall into bed, and the pounding on Yixing’s door the next morning is straight out of a nightmare when Minseok wakes up and realizes, he’s not exactly human right now. 

There’s a scream of fright from the doorway, and a startled gasp that is Yixing’s waking up. Followed by an oversized wildcat streaking past the door frame and disappearing into the morning light. 

Two weeks later he dares to meet his friend again, apologies on each of their lips, and Minseok tries to explain. The worst part of it is, Yixing isn’t even afraid of him anymore. He’s afraid of their relationship, and that’s when it ends. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


This certainly isn’t the first time Lu Han’s found himself in A Crisis. Plenty of moments in his normally staid back, socially sedentary lifestyle could give this a run for its money: the time his parents split up; the time TVXQ split up; the year he discovered he was gay, which looking back on things now was probably related to TVXQ. This isn’t even mentioning the whole Junmyeon thing which Lu Han became a pro at pretending wasn’t a big deal. (It was a Big Deal.)

Not quite as big as this one though. 

“Woah, woah, wait. Slow down!” 

His lips are tingling. Xiumin’s eyes are bright, wide open and aroused. Lu Han scrambles away, hand pinching his lower lip because, woah woah woah, this is not right. He just kissed Xiumin! He just kissed a hybrid! A wildcat he was supposed to monitor from a distance, maybe strike up a relationship — platonic, excuse him, platonic relationship! 

And right now there’s not enough distance between them to keep it that way. Any farther back and he’d probably fall off the hilltop. In a cliche melodrama he’d probably fall a long way and go splat, but here it’d be more of an ungainly tumble before he rolled halfway down. Either scenario might be preferable though to the look of  _ error _ now forming on the hybrid’s face. 

“I’m sorry. Did I... do it wrong?”

Lu Han gapes at him, heart pounding and absolutely thunderstruck. 

“Shit. No.”

“No?”

Xiumin’s crestfallen look might actually strike Lu Han dead. Any moment now; he’s waiting for it. 

“No, no you were, fine. But.” Lu Han panics. “I can’t, I can’t really… I shouldn’t be kissing you…” 

It takes ten seconds for the hybrid to metaphorically straighten up, school his expression, and cast a dimmer over his sparkling eyes. Every ounce of flirtiness is gone, all mischief erased. The effect is monumentous to Lu Han’s state of being. He doesn’t  _ like _ it one bit. 

And there’s nothing he can do about it now. Xiumin isn’t someone he’s allowed to kiss. He’s a creature of the wild. There are rules in place, laws that… well actually there aren’t any laws about wildcats. There aren’t enough wildcats in existence for someone to have created a law about interspecies cohabitation. 

A long ago conversation with Jongdae comes to mind, all of it rushed into a shamble of a memory which strikes at Lu Han and pains him with regret. 

_ “Hey, what would happen if you ever liked a human?”  _ he’d asked him once. 

Jongdae had laughed.  _ “What? But I’m human.” _

_ “No, I mean _ — _ you know what I mean. Do wolves and humans ever, get together? I don’t think I’ve heard much about the subject. Kind of always seemed a bit, taboo.” _

_ “Is it? Yeah, I suppose it is.” _

_ “But why?” _

At the time Lu Han was only curious. He knew lots of wolves had human friends, especially the ones who lived in the city like Jongdae. But he could count on one hand the number of wolves he’d interviewed that even  _ knew _ of an interspecies couple, and they always spoke of the matter in slightly hushed voices. 

_ “Why is it taboo? I don’t know, Han, should we get together and find out why?”  _ Jongdae had laughed. Lu Han thought it was hilarious. But then Jongdae had wracked his brain and coughed up a number of legal obligations in the form of permits and registration, and what-ifs if the couple had kids and if one of the offspring was hybrid or not. That wasn’t even going into the social pressures stemming from the leaders of the packs who worried about everything from bloodlines, to diluted gene pools, or if the couple were unable to procreate, even to the pressures of one or the other partner acclimating to their new desired environment. Lu Han and Jongdae had eventually given up the conversation and moved on to funnier things. It didn’t really haunt Lu Han again, until today. 

“Is it because I’m a specimen?” asks the wildcat. 

The response practically slaps Lu Han in the face. 

“What?!” 

Xiumin shrugs. “You and your kind. You always come, you watch me. And then you leave. You were here the longest. So I wanted to kiss you.” He speaks like it’s no big deal, and when his eyes land on Lu Han’s, they stay there for a few seconds, challenging him to reply, until he looks off into the distance like he’s merely curious about where next he’ll go.

Something about the whole ordeal strikes Lu Han like an ulcer.  It’s not the first thought he’s had about the wildcat  _ playing _ with him, but it is the first time Lu Han realizes he’s potentially been  _ played _ . 

“You kissed me because you were bored?”

“And because you’ll leave soon,” Xiumin answers quickly, another carefree shrug of the shoulders. Lu Han watches him wince, as if remembering all his little cuts and bruises which are probably pulling against his skin. Other than that, however, the wildcat seems unaffected. And Lu Han is semi-pissed. In a heartbeat he forgets his own ethical qualms, sees himself instead as the wounded party. 

“Fine, just fine. Anything else you’d like to experiment with while I’m still in the vicinity, or are we good?” It might have been a joke. In another situation Lu Han would totally make a joke. But tonight it just sounds bitter. He stares down the hybrid, waiting for anything: a sign, some humor. Maybe the cliche  _ Psych! I was kidding, Hey, I really like you, and can we snuggle now? _

None of that happens. And the longer the hybrid doesn’t reply, the more antsy he becomes, the more upset. His bitterness trickles away and in its place booms a slow, methodical simmer of regret, like a baby heartbreak. 

It’s probably good this is happening now, before he gets any deeper. 

So he meets Xiumin’s eyes and apologizes. “I’m sorry. That was mean of me. I’m going back to my cabin, so if you need something else come by. Have a good evening. Goodnight.”

He doesn’t move in spite of his words. Like he’s still waiting for the wildcat to do something, say something else. Either accept the apology or challenge it. There’s in inkling in Lu Han’s bones though that he’s already said too much, that  _ they _ have said enough. 

Is the wildcat really that stone-hearted? Lu Han really wants to know, but the longer Xiumin stands there the less likelier it becomes that Lu Han’s ever going to know. 

“Fine. Goodnight,” says Lu Han again, jaw gripped tightly in place because any second now his chin is going to wobble. He bites his lower lip just hard enough to catch himself, not bad enough to bleed, and he stares down the wildcat. His recklessness almost gets the better of him, and why should it not?! Lu Han is practically, almost, maybe just a tiny bit in love with a hybrid wildcat who could eat him for breakfast, and in fact… yeah, he’s apparently done just that. 

And fuck does it hurt. That he’s only been toying with him this entire time. 

“Just like a damn cat,” he says aloud. Accidentally. 

Lu Han gasps. Xiumin’s eyes light up, the previously extinguished fire roaring vehemently back into place. 

“Excuse me… what?” 

Lu Han just curses. Then he runs. 

  
  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come talk to me: [Twitter](https://twitter.com/ShineALightRose) ~ [CuriousCat](https://curiouscat.me/ShineALightRose)


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wooo, an update!!! The first of a longtime, I'm so sorry. Writing has been elusive for me lately, as I'm tired all the time and also 2 AND A HALF MONTHS PREGNANT with my second child. Ugh. 
> 
> Probably typos galore, it's 5am, I'm sorry. I'll stop saying sorry now.

It takes Lu Han only a dozen paces running home before he realizes, he’s being chased. Yellowish eyes gleam at him through the night, the hybrid following on two feet, slowly. Like he knows Lu Han isn’t getting away. Something like adrenaline mixed with spite doubles down inside Lu Han’s gut, so he runs raster. Unfortunately, the terrain doesn’t make it easy. Like everywhere it’s covered in small brush and bushes, trees and hills, and with the darkness setting in it’s nearly impossible to see where he’s going. He trips once on a root stump, curses, and lays there for half a second before getting up, the wildcat still in slow pursuit. 

“Fuck, no you don’t. You don’t get to do this to me,” he mutters, breath winded from the effort. In a straight shot Lu Han could run for miles. Here, moving fast is not an option. 

“Why did I say that,  _ why _ did I say that?” he grumbles more. 

More than that,  _ why  _ is he being pursued?! 

The second time he stumbles, Lu Han doesn’t even try to run anymore. He continues to stomp angrily though, and each time he looks back, the wildcat is closer. 

“You don’t have to follow me!” he shouts. 

There’s no answer, but then Lu Han hardly expected one. 

It occurs to him that maybe he  _ does _ want the wildcat to follow, to pursue. Isn’t that kind of always what Lu Han wanted? He wanted Junmyeon to do it, back when they fought. He thought he would, he assumed he would. Couples had squabbles and then they fought, but then they got back together if the circumstances weren’t dire enough. And Lu Han didn’t think they were that bad at the time. Maybe if they’d talked it out before Junmyeon left for Africa things could have been different. In the end they just fizzled out, and that was it for their so-called relationship. 

And if Lu Han’s right, that’s potentially what’s about to happen again. 

Can he really compare it though with Xiumin? Is this the same situation? Did Lu Han mess up in the same way? No, no, and a thoroughly no-ish no. 

Then again, they kissed. And then they said some dumb shit, especially Lu Han. If he stops walking, will the wildcat catch up, come to him? Could it, would it be so easy to just, talk it out? If he were a little more brave, maybe he’d do just that. Stop his feet, and wait. 

In the end, however, the motion’s already been set, and Lu Han doesn’t stop walking. He stomps back all the way to his cabin until, standing in the doorway, achy from his falls and sweaty from the exertion, he turns around and looks. 

There’s no one there. Xiumin did not in the end, continue following. 

  
  
  


For the next several days, Lu Han packs. And cleans. Unpacks, then packs again. Cleans some more. His small suitcase lays perpetually open, and the cabin in spotless. He’s just waiting for the all-clear. The final phone call from Baekhyun which will tell him to depart, nothing more for him to do now. 

Their conversation the day after was brief, strained. 

“I messed up.” Lu Han didn’t explain it all, just enough to reason that his presence here was compromised. 

Baekhyun had sighed. He shockingly understood. “Is that so? Okay. I expect a report back from the person I sent to investigate. I’ll call you when that comes in and then you can probably come home.”

It’s been three days without a sighting of the wildcat. Lu Han has a hard time thinking of him in any other way. Who is Xiumin? Not somebody who matters. He’s just, the wildcat now. A half human, half feline creature with too much curiosity, and Lu Han fell for his games. He fell for it hard. 

  
  
  
  


Three days later, that’s when the call finally comes in. Lu Han barely answers it in time. He’s still shamefully unused to a normal sleep pattern, more irregular now after the time spend with the wildcat, and the time waiting for him. 

“Hello?”

“It’s Baekhyun, you sound chipper this morning.”

Lu Han rubs his eyes. The word ‘morning’ is hardly recognizable. He hasn’t been awake for a morning in what feels like ages.

“You don’t usually call at this hour.”

“I know. But I figured you were dying to get home. Listen up, the report is back.”

Lu Han sits up now, more awake by the second. “The one about Xiumin?”

Baekhyun scoffs. “Yeah, that one. Though is name isn’t Xiumin, obviously, since that’s the one we made up for him, in the absence of further information.”

“He seemed to like Xiumin though.” Lu Han has to smile. He’s remembering the wildcat’s brief, blushing confession. He liked the name because that’s what Lu Han called him. A burning, guilty fever burns low in Lu Han’s chest. ‘Xiumin’ probably hates him now. 

“It’s Minseok.”

“What?” Lu Han doesn’t compute. 

“Min-seok. No given last name—our contact either didn’t know or wouldn’t tell us — and that the school he attended didn’t bother keeping any decent records.”

“W-what? Lu Han’s still grasping here. “School? He went to a school?!” 

“Village high school. Exactly the place we thought he might have appeared. Closest to the park.”

“Xiumin attended high school?!”

“For six months, give or take a month. He disappeared again after that. Nothing about him before, or after.”

Lu Han rubs his head, has to lay back in his back. The wildcat went to school. Suddenly it all makes sense, his language speaking skills, his attunement to human customs. All the mysteries Lu Han’s had about him are suddenly fitting into place. 

“So you found the woman who made the report about him?”

Baekhyun clears his throat in the negative. “Nope. We found something better.”

“What?”

“Her son.”

Lu Han listens to the monologue, interjecting only to grunt, utter some  _ hmms _ and  _ ahhs _ , or other appropriate sound effects. Mrs. Zhang, as Baekhyun’s man discovered, is in hospice care, not far from where Lu Han actually lives in the big city. Her only son Zhang Yixing retains medical authority over her wellbeing and had intercepted the messenger. 

“And boy, you won’t believe how surprised he was to hear from us!” Lu Han lets go of the word ‘boy’ in favor of hearing the rest of the story. “Get this, that report from entirely true! He was Xiu- I mean Minseok’s best friend. Met him in class during a group assignment, took him home, was pretty damned close, from the way he tells it. I have the recording of this interview, and  _ fuck me _ if he didn’t sound a tiny little enamored. Or maybe it’s just nostalgia.”

But oh no… if it’s anything like Lu Han’s experience, this Zhang Yixing is probably not just experiencing nostalgia. 

“His mother found them one morning sleeping together.”

Lu Han’s eyebrow shoots up, even though Baekhyun can’t see it. 

“I mean, not  _ sleeping  _ sleeping together, just sleeping, you know.” 

Yes, Lu Han knows. 

“As Mr. Zhang tells it, his mother screamed, and some animal shot up out of his bed. Nearly side-swiped her, and she fainted, and by the time he got through taking care of her, the  _ animal _ was gone.” 

“Was that the last he heard of him? From Minseok?” Lu Han asks. 

“No.” 

And now Lu Han is honestly surprised. 

“I guess they met up once more, and while Mr. Zhang didn’t know any of the exact details, and Minseok was not forthcoming about himself, it was obvious they both knew the other knew.” 

“So this Zhang guy can confirm it was definitely a wildcat?” Lu Han has to know. “Not a werewolf?” He adds with a chuckle to belie his regret. He can practically dictate how this final encounter went, if it’s anything based on his own experiences. 

“Definitely not a wolf. He said he remembers, in the final seconds before the door opened, something  _ purring _ .” 

Lu Han clenches his eyes. They’re stinging, and a golf ball size wad of despair wells up in the back of his throat. He lets Baekhyun finish the tale in peace, lets the anger and the regret wash over him, lets that burgeoning heartbreak make its cruel, little appearance, before he squashes it back down. 

“Seems he’s always wondered what happened to him after that. They parted ways, and Minseok disappeared. Never returned to school or the village. Mr. Zhang graduated and moved his mother away, and somehow always wanted to believe he’d just dreamed it. He wants to see him again, you know.” Oh, Lu Han  _ knows _ . “But, well, given the circumstances I explained that wouldn’t be likely. Wildcats, you know. Elusive sons of bitches.” 

But not too elusive. Before this assignment Lu Han would have agreed with Baekhyun. Now, however, he knows. Xiumin, or Minseok, is just as social as any other creature. A little more of a loner, but social nevertheless. It’s the humans who keep screwing things up for him. First the people who captured his parent cat, then Yixing, and his mother. Next up: Lu Han. 

Lu Han can only hope that there won’t be more people like him to continue ruining things for one of the last wildcats on earth. 

  
  
  


Before hanging up Baekhyun tells Lu Han to make his way back to town soon as he wants, pick up a bus ticket, and come on home. “Company will reimburse you for the ticket. Take as long as you need, okay, Lu Han?”

He hangs up, morose and bitter at the way Baekhyun seems to apologize to him for his failure. It’s not Baekhyun’s fault Lu Han screwed up, but maybe that’s part of his charm. Despite his robust personality, Baekhyun takes his employee’s experiences personally and after all, he’s the one who sent Lu Han there in the first place. 

There isn’t much more to do in the cabin. Lu Han gives it one final quick clean and makes a final inventory check. It’s owned by the WHPC and will no doubt be visited again in the future. Lu Han wants to leave it in spotless condition. He tears the sheets from the bed, pointedly not thinking about all those nights the wildcat shared it with him, washes them in a large basin outside. As they hang dry, Lu Han stares down the sun sinking low into the sky, his eyes glossy, but his ears wide open, listening, yearning. 

He sleeps in the sleeping bag overnight, but it’s a fitful rest after all these weeks of being nocturnal. In the morning he folds the sheets and crams the last bit of his belongings into his camping bag. Belatedly, he realizes he’s still missing a jacket, several pairs of pajama pants, a shirt, and his oldest set of shoes. 

Maybe that was my tribute, he muses to himself, smiling wryly. Then he sets off. 

  
  


The walk to the village takes a full day, and then some. Lu Han arrives well past midnight, his feet aching and he’s itching for a good night sleep. It’s the same town Minseok once dwelled in. And who knows, maybe his parents before him. Lu Han and the WHCP are still woefully missing all those milestones which have shaped and molded and nearly made extinct the entire hybrid Asiatic wildcat population. 

For now at least, that’ll be someone else’s job. Lu Han will go home, and no doubt be reassigned. Maybe his next excursion won’t be so bad. Maybe Baekhyun will take his good intentions to heart and send him out on an adventure for something awesome: like the octohybrid. More likelier, he thinks, is that he’ll be put on the archaeological division digging up bones of fossilized fauns. At least there he won’t be allowed to hurt any more of these beautiful creatures’ feelings, thus jeopardizing the whole operation. 

He finds a motel, mercifully open twenty-four hours a day, though the room rates are by the hour. Lu Han enters his little suite alone, drops his back by the door, and after that his shoes are the first thing to go. By the time he showers and snacks, it’s four in the morning, His cell phone is on its last 2% battery life. Lu Han lets it run to zero and plops on the bed. Despite the ache in his bones and his overall weariness, he can’t sleep. 

Perhaps, that’s a good thing though. 

Barely an hour later there’s a little knock on his door. Lu Han whines and sits up. It can’t be the motel staff  _ this _ late, surely?! 

In the pit of his stomach though, Lu Han  _ knows _ who it is. He yearns for it, begs it to be true. Even still it’s with great trepidation that he pads softly towards the door, unbolting the lock. He opens it slowly, achingly prolonging every bit of hope Lu Han knows to muster. 

He starts at the feet. 

Hmm, familiar. 

Then the pant legs. A little tatty. Like they’ve gone for a hike in knee high brush and gotten twisted all around. 

That shirt, pretty ugly. One he never liked. Covered in a decent jacket. 

The face though. Now that’s a face Lu Han likes. 

The hybrid stands before him looking more anxious than Lu Han has ever seen him. Looking more human too. Maybe it’s the lights from the street, illuminating his skin in a way not even the moon can do. Maybe it’s the backdrop, the village architecture, old-fashioned, but decidedly human. A remnant of everything Xiumin usually is not. 

Lu Han’s breath comes to a stop. The wildcat wrings his hands, biting his lower lip, and Lu Han finds himself saying, “Hello,” in a manner he hopes conveys more, so much more. 

“Hi,” says the wildcat. Then, softly, “Can I come in?”

Lu Han nods, like he was always going to. He backs away from the door frame, leads the man into his darkened room, never turning away, ready for all the world like he’s afraid the wildcat is going to pounce on him. Because  _ ohh _ , he hopes he will. 

But it doesn’t happen like that. 

“I didn’t really think you were going to leave.”

Lu Han doesn’t have an answer. He shakes his head sadly. It’s not a response, more an admission of his own guilt. 

Xiumin, or Minseok, changes tactics. “Did you  _ want _ to leave?” 

This time Lu Han’s head shake is genuine. He smiles. Then the hybrid smiles. “Me neither. But since you’re here…” 

The wildcat doesn’t pounce, not all the way. But he does step softly up into Lu Han’s space, and tentatively wrap his arms around Lu Han’s middle. Lu Han inhales, loving that earthy scent, loving the feeling of that smaller body looping around his, all warm, hard muscle, compact and magical. 

“Can I stay with you tonight?” asks the hybrid, his head now firmly down in the space between Lu Han’s neck and collarbone. 

And Lu Han can only respond, his voice a relieved whisper. “Please, yes.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Stay tuned for an EPILOGUE.


	8. Epilogue

1 year later

  
  
  


The mini-blinds are a mess again. Lu Han kicks open the door of his apartment, stack of grocery bags balancing precariously between his arms. There’s a small, chirruping meow at his feet, a comparatively tiny, orange creature that threatens to trip him before he’s even gotten his shoes off. 

“Cat, what are you doing?” Lu Han berates. In a perfect world the cat ignores him for ninety percent of the day until it wants cuddles, on top of Lu Han’s head. But well, things have changed since… 

“Minseok?!” he shouts, primarily for help. 

The mini-blinds rustle, and Lu Han is temporarily blinded by a flash of sunlight which surges through the open window, curtains fluttering. He shuts his eyes, freezing in the moment until he’s certain he’ll be able to a) see again, and b) actually take a step without tripping on the cat beneath his feet. 

Seconds later the weight in his arms is lifted, the cat below retreating as well as it resorts to its other favorite pastime: sulking. Lu Han admits he didn’t quite consider the implications, but bringing home a large predator—even of the catlike variety—brought about a whole new dynamic between him and his two little babies. Plainly put, they are jealous creatures, and Minseok is too, though on occasion Lu Han’s come home to catch all three of them snuggling on the couch. Jealous, petulant, and terrible, terrible liars. He loves them, Minseok most of all. 

“How was your day?” calls the hybrid from the kitchen. 

Lu Han follows the sound of his voice, entering the room to put down his remaining sack of groceries. He hums. “Good, good,” then squatting down to pet the other fluffy monstrosity, Tan, who is curled up on top of the counter. On a good day Lu Han would scold him, but Minseok likes this one best, and vice versa, and lets him get away with just about anything. Lu Han sighs. Discipline around here has gotten even worse since Minseok…

“Ahem.” 

Lu Han jumps up. Minseok is standing before him, arms crossed, pouting. 

“I’m sorry, did you want something?” ask Lu Han to be coy. 

The hybrid rolls his eyes, then turns away. And yes, Lu Han smiles fondly at his back, because he is so so petulant. Before he can get away Lu Han crosses the distance and envelops Minseok from behind. His arms wrap around a solid waist, fingers lacing together in front of a marvelously muscled stomach. Minseok stops, and while he definitely doesn’t react, Lu Han knows this game. 

“Baby, I brought you a present…” 

Something in the hybrid’s vocal chords harrumphs indignantly, still tightly content to play the game. On the other hand, he’s not very good at it, and begins purring two seconds later. 

“Oh? You did?” he replies airily. 

Lu Han nods. Minseok worms his way out of his Lu Han’s arms and turns, an expectant expression brightening his face. 

“What is it? Did you really get the assignment? Baekhyun agreed!? Are the tickets in?! Can I see them?!” 

Lu Han laughs. “Hold on, hold on just a sec, okay! Let me actually finish with the groceries first.” Then, seeing Minseok’s trembling lips: “It’s in my work bag if you absolutely can’t wait.” 

The hybrid makes a dash for the bag. Lu Han turns his back and begins the task of putting away the coldest food items first, ignoring Minseok for the time being. 

It’s been a whole year since their time in the wild. For only half of that time Minseok has been living with him. Every couple of months Lu Han packs him up and onto the train, and sends him back for a hiatus, a necessary diversion which the hybrid desperately needs. It’s been hard adjusting to city life. While there’s nothing illegal about his status, and he could technically ‘turn’ whenever he wants to, it’s a little hard to main something of a civil lifestyle were the neighbors to catch a glimpse of a wildcat dashing down their sidewalks. Even the wolves, if they must, do it in secret or in private forest reserves. Prejudices are slow to die down among just about every hybrid breed. 

Most of the time Minseok is fine walking around like a human. And on the days when he needs to transform, he does it in Lu Han’s apartment. Still, it’s not enough. Also, Lu Han still has a job and while he spends most of it now in office at the Wild Hybrid Preservation Center, it’s not the same thing as getting to be  _ out  _ there and doing something unique. 

He turns at the sound of Minseok’s triumph. In the hybrid’s hands he holds a brand new passport with his name on it, and two airplane tickets, destination: Africa. 

Lu Han smiles. It took a lot of persuading, mostly from Baekhyun, that they weren’t going to make him go out there and  _ breed _ . But that any relationship between his species and the African hybrid wildcat would be a giant step towards protecting their kind in a world where their population is increasingly becoming extinct.

“So this is it. I’m now, what. An official ambassador?” The hybrid crooks head slyly in Lu Han’s direction.

Lu Han nods. “It’s official. Are you happy now?” They’ll get to go together this time. Minseok can spend however long he wants as a wildcat, associating with fellow beasts, and Lu Han doesn’t have to watch him go alone. 

Even better is that Lu Han’s ex is recently returned and therefore  _ won’t  _ be there when they arrive. After all this time Lu Han gets his dream job,  _ and  _ he gets to go with his dream lover. Sometimes, the fates do align. 

Minseok finishes savoring his new identification, and Lu Han watches him fondly as he deliberates where to put the tickets for safekeeping. They leave next month, which is plenty of time to get ready, pack, say their temporary goodbyes. 

“Oh yes,” Lu Han suddenly remembers. “Jongdae said he’d be by tomorrow for dinner, and please not to feed him dog food.”

Minseok hisses in response. Then he shrugs, begins to laugh. “Your wolf friend is too sensitive.” 

“Excuse me,” Lu Han retorts. “He is more than a wolf, just as you are more than a  _ cat _ , and he’s my best friend. So there.”

“So what?” Minseok smirks. 

Lu Han wants to argue, but then Minseok turns away grinning, and he find he just can’t bring himself to continue the argument. It’s an ongoing one, and Minseok positively  _ loves _ to antagonize Jongdae whenever the two are together. Practically enemies and they won’t ever shut up, always one-upping the other with the insults. Lu Han knows from experience that it’s their own personal way of showing friendship. The first time he tried to separate them from each other, he got hissed  _ and _ snarled at by not one but both of his two favorite people on earth. 

It’s a good life they have now. Not always perfect, not always harmonious, and goodness knows, living with a wild creature cooped up in an apartment makes for its fair amount of stress. 

And then there is that other thing. 

“Have you heard from uhm, what’s his name again?” Lu Han asks, as they’re settling in for bed. 

He’s half naked under the covers, with the hybrid plastered to one side, his two smaller cats sleeping in tandem at the foot of the bed. Lu Han is plenty cozy, practically overheating. 

“Did I hear from who?” Minseok’s voice is weak, sleepy. 

Lu Han doesn’t like saying his name. He knows their reunion was good. Short and sweet, and one hundred percent  _ platonic _ . 

“You know who I mean. That, that Yixing fellow.” 

Lu Han still kind of blames him for breaking Minseok’s heart when he was just a little boy. For not being a better person, for not being  _ there _ for Minseok when he needed a friend the most. The hybrid, however, has apparently long since forgiven him. 

“Oh, him? We talk every now and then. It’s good.”

Lu Han humphs. Minseok rolls to face him, places a soft hand on Lu Han’s jaw. 

“Are you doing that thing again where you pretend to be jealous?” 

“Pretend? Who’s pretending?”

“You are,” Minseok hums. He leans towards him, and Lu Han closes his eyes. Their lips brush gently. Once again he’s at a loss for words, doesn’t want to break this spell. 

“Let’s just sleep, hm? I’m so sleepy,” the hybrid whines. 

“Now who’s pretending,” Lu Han whispers back, when Minseok maneuvers himself right over Lu Han’s body. 

It’s another hour before they actually get to sleep. ;) 

  
  
  
  


End. 


End file.
